St. Matthew’s House expands food distribution sites, feeding more Lee and Collier residents - ABC7 News

FORT MYERS, Fla.– St. Matthew’s House is doing something it has never done before, Thursday.

For the first time, the St. Matthew’s team set up five food distribution sites throughout Lee and Collier counties. That is the most sites in one day the team of volunteers has ever done before. 

“We’ve always been here during hurricanes, catastrophes and wildfires,” said CEO Vann Ellison.  “But a pandemic wasn’t in our playbook this time last year.”  

Over the last year, the team has expanded their food distribution from their small parish to extend help to the hundreds of thousands of people in Southwest Florida.

Regardless of denomination, St. Matthew’s has been there to help.

Next week will mark 52 weeks since the team doubled its resources and volunteers to help feed Southwest Florida during the pandemic. 

“We’ve been the ones passing it out, but it’s everybody’s efforts. It’s not just us,” said Ellison. 

He said his team would not have been able to do it without their community partners like Harry Chapin as well as other communities that donate on a weekly basis.

“It’s more like a war than a battle,” said Ellison.  “We were assisting 400 families a month before COVID and now it’s 4,000 to 12,000 families a month.”

Since the pandemic began, St. Matthew’s has given out $15 million in groceries to Southwest Florida. Ellison says that need for food, isn’t going anywhere any time soon.  

“The working poor are the most vulnerable. The working poor are still digging out of the hole that they were in and many of them haven’t even started digging out.”

Ellison expects to feed 150,000 families this year. 

“Find a way to give and help somebody else out,” said Ellison. 

“We are here because we care. But we are here because the community equips us to care. So really this is an act of love from the people of Southwest Florida to the hurting and vulnerable.”

More information about food distribution site locations and donation information can be found here.

Information about volunteering can be found here.

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