2020 was an unprecedented year. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt worldwide, highlighting struggles in almost every sector including healthcare, economics, and food supply chains. Over 20,000,000 people lost their jobs, resulting in an unemployment rate of over 14.5%– a level not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. With some people losing their livelihoods and others losing loved ones to the illness, we mourn this loss of over 609,767 Americans and 3,564,976 people worldwide. It was easy to feel lost, hopeless and overwhelmed in these trying times, but we strived to remain optimistic through it all.

In March of 2020, lines of people stretched around the block in wait for food donations, displaying what a widespread challenge food insecurity was during the pandemic. Many people were already experiencing food insecurity prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now even more people are faced with this problem.

To combat hunger and provide the community with locally sourced food, we created supply chains from local farms directly to the organizations that were out there giving food to people in need Boca Helping Hands, H3, Glades Initiative, Palm Beach Harvest, Feeding The Hungry Pantry of PBC,  CROS Soup Kitchen, and More Than Conquerors Life Center. We helped donate over 190,000 pounds of healthy food to those organizations, equating to approximately $460,000 in value or approximately 740,200 meals, all sourced from 32 local farms. This not only helped support local agriculture and farmers, who were also severely impacted by COVID-19, but it also helped to feed families and individuals in the South Florida Region. These donations would not have been possible without direct action, local farms, food banks, and other willing organizations that we are so glad to know and support. We are humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity to serve our community.

If you are or know of any organization that is trying to help feed people locally that have been impacted by COVID-19, please reach out to us at JoinForces@ufa.farm. We may be able to help.