By Brian McBride
Associate Editor

Feed the need.

That’s exactly what the Osceola County Council on Aging is attempting to do beginning Wednesday, when it kicks off its Feed Osceola food drive. It’s asking businesses, schools, church groups, homeowner associations or individuals to start food drives to help stock the council’s food pantry, which was nearly bare this past Wednesday afternoon.

The month-long drive will end Friday, Sept. 24, a day declared by the council as Osceola’s Day of Caring, when food will be supplied to the needy in bulk, Connie Bellanceau, director of the council’s volunteer center, said.

Feed Osceola, established last year, collected nearly 900,000 pounds of food, but it wasn’t enough as the supply ran dry, Bellanceau said. This year, she estimates the council will need more than 1 million pounds.

“That’s our big need right now,” she said. “We have people coming into the (council) building looking for food. Times have only gotten worse. People are still unemployed.”

The council is looking for items such as canned vegetables, canned meat, pasta and other non-perishable food during the monthlong program.

“We are dead empty,” Council Dietary Director Cathy Arft said, showing off the bare shelves in the council’s food pantry room. “Right now, my only protein is beef stew.”

Hungry families she sees on average are in the triple digits, Arft said.

“We do about 125 a week,” she added.

The council is hoping to give two or three days’ worth of food to the needy Sept. 24. Anything left over would be spread out to some of the 16 food pantries around the county.

For Bellanceau, it’s a rewarding calling. She recalled the hugs and the tears she witnessed firsthand last year after people received baskets of food.

“This is one of the events that’s closest to our hearts because we see the results,” she said.

The council also needs volunteers to assist with sorting the food, stocking the shelves, filling individual food baskets, picking up the food donations and organizing volunteer groups. For information on volunteering or to register a group conducting a food drive for the council, contact Bellanceau at 407-933-9525.