Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida receives grant from Aetna

The $115,150 grant will help the food bank expand its School Partnerships Program with more than 60 schools in the area.

By Annabelle Sikes
| 9:00 a.m. October 27, 2023

Observer School Zone
News

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has received a grant from Aetna, a CVS health company, to help the organization expand its School Partnerships Program.

The $115,150 grant will serve the needs of more than 60 participating schools in the program, including West Orange County area schools Olympia High and Prairie Lake Elementary.

The funding will help elementary, middle, high school and post-secondary institutions stock their emergency pantries with nonperishable food items throughout the 2023-2024 academic year.

“We continue to see more and more families – many for the first time – having to make difficult household budget decisions due to higher costs of necessities,” Derrick Chubbs, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank, said. “This latest grant from Aetna will help us continue to support student-centered and stigma-reducing access to nutritious food for students and their families.”

For more information on how to support Second Harvest’s hunger relief efforts, or to find the nearest food partner, click here.

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Annabelle Sikes

News Editor Annabelle Sikes was born in Boca Raton and moved to Orlando in 2018 to attend the University of Central Florida. She graduated from UCF in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sociology. Her past journalism experiences include serving as a web producer at the Orlando Sentinel, a reporter at The Community Paper, managing editor for NSM Today, digital manager at Centric Magazine and as an intern for the Orlando Weekly.