FANC

Nourishing, Mobilizing & Educating Our Community

We are only as powerful and impactful as the community that supports us.

Take money being spent out of state, and redirect it to local farmers. Take fresh produce that nobody wants, and create a new market. Feed school children and food-insecure families. Create jobs.

Treasure Coast Food Bank is combining all those effort into a social enterprise program designed to benefit not only those in need but local private industry as well. The Florida Agriculture & Nourishment Collaborative launched in the Summer of 2017, transforming its former warehouse into a customized production facility.

The program involves 100 Florida farmers, 100 local schools, and 300 human service agencies who provide food to nearly 100,000 low-income people in Indian River, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties. By processing, vacuum-sealing, and cold-storing the produce, the program extends its usable life, enabling many more agencies and individuals to access it.

“This program will decrease food waste and make nutritious food more readily available for those people with food insecurities,” Treasure Coast Food Bank CEO Judith Cruz says. “It will also be an economic driver for our local farmers, cut costs at our schools, and put people to work at the processing facility.”

Through the Collaborative, Treasure Coast Food Bank, using revenue it generates as a supplier of local school districts’ USDA Farm 2 School programs, will purchase and process millions of pounds of locally-grown produce that currently has no market. Treasure Coast Food Bank will then provide this healthy food through our programs to more than 100,000 people who experience food insecurity along the Treasure Coast.

“This public-private partnership invests revenue that otherwise would be spent out of town and pumps it into our local existing agricultural industry. It creates jobs here at home, and feeds people who have limited access to fresh produce,” Cruz explains. “It is the epitome of innovation within an existing established Treasure Coast industry.”

Opportunities exist for other businesses to take part in the Collaborative. To learn more and get involved, please call Treasure Coast Food Bank at 772-489-3034.

Nutritious Meals for Children & Seniors

Throughout the year, we process, prepare, cryovac, and flash-freeze produce and other food to boost our capacity to distribute more meals throughout the Treasure Coast—especially to those who need us most. Food preparation is coordinated for Meals on Wheels and through the Farm to School, Summer Food Service, and After School Meals programs.

Job Training

Working strategically with Career Source and the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County, we equip unemployed and underemployed individuals with highly sought-after food service skills to meet the surging demand at local retirement communities, restaurants, hotels, and country clubs. Taught by our Executive Chef, the 12-week course covers the mechanics of working in a commercial kitchen and concludes with students working together as the Healthy Harvest Catering team to gain professional experience.

The Farm Box – Equitable Access

We offer a produce subscription box program designed to increase the accessibility of fresh, local produce for food-insecure households in rural, low-access communities with few options for fresh, wholesome grocery options. Healthy Harvest offers bi-weekly or monthly delivery or pick-up of boxes—each filled with fruits and vegetables harvested by local small-scale farmers that are sold at an affordable cost (SNAP benefits can also be used).

Disaster Relief

Organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army rely on us to operate emergency meal distribution during the most critical times. With an unmatched capacity to produce 100,000 meals each day, we can respond to hurricanes and other disasters—both locally and as a critical component to statewide disaster response efforts.