Santa Rosa Medical Center Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive Collects 464 Jars for Feeding the Gulf Coast
3/28/2023
MILTON, Fla., (March 28, 2023) - To help address hunger in our community, and to celebrate National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day on April 2, Santa Rosa Medical Center (SRMC) is donating more than 460 jars of peanut butter (and a jar of jelly) to Feeding the Gulf Coast.
SRMC’s employees, medical staff members, and volunteers donated the jars during the recent Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive.
According to Feeding the Gulf Coast, 1 in 6 individuals along the Central Gulf Coast struggle to put food on the table. The goal of the Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive is to help support individuals facing food insecurity, which is a social determinant of health.
“Food access has a huge impact on a person’s overall health and well-being,” said Justin Serrano, Chief Executive Officer. “Through our Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive, we are working to help fight hunger in our community. Our generous employees really stepped up, donating jars and cash to purchase jars, to be sure we could stock the shelves.”
Peanut butter is one of the most requested items for food banks because it is highly nutritious and has a long shelf life. Unfortunately, many food banks in America report it is also one of the least donated food items. Other foods needed by food banks include canned meats (i.e., tuna, chicken, etc.,) canned vegetables and fruit, fruit juice, boxed or canned meals (i.e., soup, macaroni & cheese, etc., ) as well as dried or canned beans, pasta, rice and cereal.
Feeding the Gulf Coast, formerly Bay Area Food Bank, operates three branches along the central Gulf Coast with facilities in Milton, Fla., Theodore, Ala. and Gulfport, Miss.
Together these facilities partner with over 400 agencies to distribute more than 30 million pounds of food annually to the 24-county service area through the food bank’s hunger-relief programs.
SRMC's sister hospitals, North Okaloosa Medical Center and South Baldwin Regional Medical Center, also participated in the Jars of Love Peanut butter drive, making a total donation to Feeding the Gulf Coast of more than 1300 jars.
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