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Publix associates volunteer at the company’s Lakeland headquarters, working assembly-line style to pack weekend meal kits for Polk County students as part of Publix Serves week. | Kayla Borg, LkldNow
2-minute read
Thousands of children in Polk county face weekends without enough to eat. Local nonprofits, churches and businesses — from kidsPACK to Publix and food pantries across the county — are stepping in to fill the gap.
A worsening issue
The problem today is stark: 1 in 5 children (20.8%) in Polk County face food insecurity, according to Feeding America. That’s an estimated 33,490 children. Of those, 74% qualify for federal nutrition programs, while 26% live in households that earn too much to qualify but still can’t reliably afford food. Meeting local food needs would require an additional $79 million annually, with an average meal cost of $4.16.
In Polk County:
14% of residents live below the federal poverty line.
At Publix’s Lakeland headquarters, more than 400 associates recently spent the company’s annual Publix Serves week packing 10,000 meal kits with ravioli, applesauce, fruit packs, crackers, and cereal. Each kit was designed to help children get through weekends without school meals.
kidsPACK, a nonprofit providing meals for disadvantaged children, now serves nearly 4,000 children in 87 Polk schools every week, according to executive director Patty Strickland. Referrals are made through schools, ensuring that food reaches students identified as homeless or food-insecure.
“Sometimes we get requests we can’t fill because the money isn’t there,” Strickland said, noting it costs $430 to sponsor one child for a school year. She described cases of students living in cars, storage units, or homes without utilities — showing how hunger and housing instability often collide.
“Polk County has some of the greatest givers I’ve ever seen. But people have to know the need exists before they can respond.”
Patty Strickland, Executive Director of kidsPack
Local food pantries and community support
Polk’s hunger response extends beyond kidsPACK and Publix. Churches and nonprofits also play a role. Click on the map below for a listing of local food pantries.
Community solutions
For Strickland, the bigger message is about community responsibility. “We have five staff members. Everything else is volunteers — churches, organizations, neighbors stepping up.”
Publix’s efforts are one piece of that puzzle, alongside nonprofits and volunteers. For the child who carries home a kit on Friday, the impact is simple but profound: food on the table for the weekend, and a little more space to just be a kid.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Kayla Borg is a Lakeland native and graduate of Western Carolina University, where she earned her degree in English and film production. She began her media career in Atlanta at CNN, quickly rising from production assistant editor to technical director/editor, leading live broadcasts alongside field reporters. Since then, she’s worked in education, instructional design and independent filmmaking.
