Food for Thought
By Tiffanie Nelson, Founder and Executive Director
Eight years ago, I was searching for an opportunity for my children and I to demonstrate our faith and values outside of our attendance at our church. I was working full time and raising my kids, and I wanted us to connect more with our community.
In 2010, when I was enrolling my son in school and filling out all the forms, I was struck by the nature of some the information requested. The papers were all about assessing the student’s need for assistance. It just so happened in the weeks leading up to this, I was introduced to the concept of “Food Insecurity” at church. When I looked over these forms, it really hit me that there we a lot of children in our area in need. I went home and started to research “Food Insecurity” and it really opened my eyes. This is when I knew I had found a need we could connect to as a family, an area where we could make a difference.
The next morning, I called Butler Elementary (where my son was attending school) to determine their need for help, I asked my pastor for a little money to get started, and with that our work began. We had $300 to serve six children to start with. This quickly grew from six to sixteen to thirty-six in just the first few months. That summer, we filed our nonprofit status and Food for Thought Outreach was created.
Today, Food for Thought is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization serving both Okaloosa & Walton Counties, that provides backpacks filled with healthy, easy to prepare food for students who are dependent on free or reduced school meals. Our goal is to support a child’s development and educational experience by bridging the gap between school meals during weekends and holiday breaks. Food for Thought has been working to fight child hunger since 2010, and currently serves 31 schools in Walton and Okaloosa Counties, providing backpacks for 3,000 students each week.
Our mission is to remove the negative impacts of hunger and empower a child to get the most out of their education and development by providing them weekly access to healthy, easy to prepare meals.
Nuestra misión es eliminar los impactos negativos del hambre, y empoderar a un niño para sacar el máximo provecho de su educación y desarrollo proporcionándoles acceso semanal a comidas saludables y fáciles de preparar.
Our values are to:
Foster respect. We offer our services to every student on a free or reduced meal plan in the schools we serve. We also maintain open enrollment in our programs, as we understand that school populations change, as do the needs of the communities we serve.
Health Focused. We work tirelessly to align all aspects of our organization with opportunities to ensure each backpack provided includes healthy grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein so our child recipients and their families can easily prepare the healthiest meal possible.
Promote Volunteerism. We strengthen our volunteer-base almost daily, which brings new ideas, energy, support, and love into our organization. It is our goal to provide our communities with a local, positive, hands-on volunteer experience. We welcome volunteers of all ages and encourage student and team volunteerism. Our volunteer base packs and distributes food, organizes our pantry, and supports our events. We depend on our volunteers to help make our work possible.
Establish Roots. We have taken root with support from our entire community, and in just a few short years have expanded our reach through two counties and into 30 schools, serving hundreds of children throughout the entire year.
We are always in need of volunteer and community support. To learn more, please visit www.fftfl.org