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PHOTO / METRO CREATIVE
This time of year can be hard for less-fortunate families who have a hard time putting dinner on the table, let alone providing a traditional holiday meal.
With the back-to-back impacts of the pandemic and inflation, more and more families have had to make difficult choices, between paying rent, utility and medical bills, getting to work, providing for their families … or eating. Those who graciously step in and provide— the blessed souls who operate food pantries and the activities to keep them stocked—Tammi Madison knows a thing or two about this process.
She’s working to build a network of those pantries. So, if you want to help provide for those who may need a little help, start with next week’s Thanksgiving holiday … just keep reading.
Madison spent 16 years in charge of the St. Cloud Community Pantry addressing the food insecurity of our neighbors. She moved on from that, but took her heart to continue serving to form Pantry Planters, a 501c3 non-profit that, essentially, continues that vision.
She’s been empowering community members to open and operate food distribution centers throughout the county, in the places of greatest need, since February. Those who come to her with a business plan to open a pantry, or oversee services to help stock them, Madison and Pantry Planters stand at the ready to make those connections.
If you want to donate to a group that will pass your donation on to those in need, go online to PantryPlanters. org to find a resource—or become one.
In short, Madison’s mission is to support anyone who wants to help feed other people.
“Holiday food drives have been keeping me very busy,” Madison said. “Second Harvest gets the calls that should come to me. God showed me this plan, and it’s the easiest job I’ve ever had. Who doesn’t have a heart for helping?”
Through her community pantry service years, Madison developed working relationships with restaurants, stores, and the Second Harvest Food Bank. Those connections helped form the know-how she passes on to others—the heart of Pantry Planters.
“I help with Second Harvest’s inspection process, so new pantries can became an agency with them, to receive services,” she said.
Thus far, she’s gotten locations in Kissimmee, Poinciana, Holopaw and Kenansville up and running, and a Four Corners area community pantry is in the works. Madison works hand-in-hand with the upstart locations, gets them up and running, then moves on “I’ve been asked to help in multiple counties in our area, but I want to make sure I can help everyone in Osceola County who needs help, because it’s where I live,” she said.
And, right now, it’s resources for Thanksgiving and Christmas is what she’s focused on.
“I don’t know what we’re getting yet (from partners like Second Harvest),” Madison said. “All of those holiday items we get, we keep those donations in the neighborhoods they come from. We make sure the support stays in those communities to help.”
