Distribution Recap 07/26 and 08/16

The food distributions at NWFL Fairgrounds on July 26th and August 16th both had tremendous turnouts. DH and volunteers served over 500 cars on July 26th and over 760 cars on August 16th!! Recipients of these distributions received sausage, eggs, watermelon, grape jelly, peanut butter, yogurt, spaghetti, pasta sauce, produce boxes, and more. Destin Harvest is awaiting confirmation for the next food distribution to take place in either Okaloosa or Walton County. We are extremely grateful for Feeding the Gulf Coast, all of our volunteers, including Beulah First Baptist Church, Northwest Florida Fairgrounds, and Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office for making these events a true success!

Here are some pictures of the past two events:

July 26th Food Distribution: 500 cars served

August 16th: 765 cars served!

Crestview Food Giveaway – July 6th, 2024

Destin Harvest, Feeding the Gulf Coast, The City of Crestview, and The Property Group 850 are teaming up on Saturday, July 6th to host a food giveaway at the Old Spanish Trail Amphitheater. Feeding the Gulf Coast will be delivering an 18-wheeler semi-truck loaded with an assortment of produce, meat, non-perishables, bakery, and other items for volunteers to hand out to participating vehicles.

If you or someone you know could benefit from receiving some free food, the food give-away will start at 8:30 am on Saturday Morning (July 6th) and will run until all foods are given out.

Date and Time: Saturday, July 6th at 8:30 am

The address is: 205 Stillwell Boulevard Crestview, FL 32539

The City of Crestview, The Property Group 850, Hope City Community Church, Crestview Fire Department, Crestview Police Department, and Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office will all be volunteering their time to make this a truly impactful event.

Food Give-Away Recap for May and June

Through collaborative and exceptional opportunities presented by Feeding the Gulf Coast (FTGC), Destin Harvest (DH) and local organizers have distributed an additional 70k pounds of free foods into Okaloosa and Walton County. These food distributions are different from DH’s daily operation of connecting food surpluses from local grocers and food retailers to food programs in Okaloosa and Walton County. DH organizes teams of volunteers and community advocates at local sites for FTGC to deliver an 18-wheeler refrigerated truck loaded with free foods. These foods are palletized and dropped from the FTGC truck, and then staged by DH and volunteers to hand out to 300 – 400 participating vehicles. A DH truck stays on-site to store surplus pallets of refrigerated items until the pallets on the ground are exhausted. People receiving food from these events are returning home with fresh eggs, milk, yogurt, packages of chicken tenders, watermelon, peanut butter, jelly, boxes of assorted produce, bags of potatoes, and more.

On May 18th, DH’s team, volunteer teams from Beulah Baptist Church, Sylvania Heights, along with off-duty deputies from Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, all worked together to distribute 35,000 pounds of food to over 300 vehicles at Northwest Florida Fairgrounds. It was a huge success in the face of inclement weather and serious logistical challenges. Below are some of the pictures from that food give-away.

The food distribution at Freeport Commons on June 15th had a tremendous turnout, with over 400 vehicles being served. Huge thank you to New Life Adventist Church and Walton County Sheriff’s Posse for helping plan and volunteering to make this event possible. Below are pictures from the food give-away at Freeport Commons. (Photo Credit – Micki Glenn)

NWFL Fairgrounds Food Give Away – May 18th

Destin Harvest, Feeding the Gulf Coast, and Northwest Florida Fair Association are teaming up on Saturday, May 18th to host a food giveaway at the NWFL Fairgrounds. Feeding the Gulf Coast will be delivering a semi-truck loaded with an assortment of foods for volunteers to hand out to vehicles that pass through the loop in the back parking lot of the fairgrounds.

If you or someone you know would like to receive some free food, the food give-away will start at 8:30 am on Saturday Morning (May 18th) and will run until all foods are given out.

Date and Time: Saturday, May 18th at 8:30 am

The address is: 1958 Lewis Turner Blvd, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547

Several volunteers will be needed to help hand out foods. If you are interested in volunteering please reach out to Chris at chris@destinharvest.org.

Destin Harvest and The Matrix COC Distribute 80k lbs of Food to Programs in Okaloosa and Walton County

Feeding the Gulf Coast reached out to DH this week in effort to mobilize two 40k lb. freight-loads of food overages from distribution centers in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida into Okaloosa and Walton County. DH connected with The Matrix Community Outreach Center in Defuniak Springs to see if they would organize a distribution in Walton County to distribute the food directly to local feeding programs. DH organized the same effort in Okaloosa County. A total of 17 feeding programs showed up with pick up trucks, trailers, and U-hauls at Northwest Florida Fairgrounds and Defuniak Fairgrounds to receive all 80k pounds of food in the rain Wednesday morning. This was truly a massive aid to local hunger relief efforts in two counties.

Thank you Feeding the Gulf Coast, Northwest Florida Fairgrounds, The Matrix COC, and volunteers for making this all possible!

Thank You City Produce!

Team at Children in Crisis in Fort Walton Beach, FL receives Strawberry Milk donated to DH from City Produce

City Produce, local produce distributor in Fort Walton Beach, donated a pallet of strawberry milk to DH last week. Feeding programs were very excited to receive the refreshing treat. Our drivers never know what they will pick up and it’s tremendous feeling to find out what we will be handing off to grateful recipients each day. Without valuable donors like City Produce and local grocery stores, this simply would not be possible.

Thank you City Produce for giving back and putting smiles on the faces of volunteers and staff at local recipient charities that benefit from DH’s free deliveries.

gallery picture of DH picking up Strawberry Milk — City Produce, FWB FL

Destin Harvest delivers strawberry milk — City Produce, FWB FL

Help DH connect more food to feeding programs in Northwest Florida by becoming a Harvest Advocate today!

Food Distribution