The Junior League of Tallahassee is dedicated to supporting basic needs for local children and families through strategic partnerships, sustainable community programs and volunteer resources. Our basic needs focus is three-pronged – food, clothing, and shelter.

In February, the members of the Junior League of Tallahassee recently voted in an exciting new signature community project – Mighty Meals. Mighty Meals will target child hunger and food insecurity issues in our community. Leon County ranks third in the state for food insecurity and hunger. One in five people are food insecure and hungry, making our focus all the more important. The meal gap, though narrowing slightly, continues to be in the millions - approximately six million more meals are needed annually in Leon County to satisfy this gap. In researching our next project related to these issues, we found that no current organizations target longer school breaks, such as Spring Break. Programs such as Second Harvest’s Backpack program, which the JLT supports, only provides shelf-stable food for a weekend.

The mission of Mighty Meals is to help alleviate food insecurity and provide access to nutritious meals for elementary-aged children and their families during spring break. The Mighty Meals box would contain a recipe book with ideas for how to prepare the included food. Participants in the project would receive a free “Mighty Meals” box containing nutritious food for a family of four for one week, which equates to 84 meals per family. Fresh produce and a protein component would be a priority for each day.

The approximate cost for one box will be $50. The goal of Mighty Meals would be to assist 200 families, which equates to 15,120 meals. The boxes would be distributed at no cost to participants at a location to be determined in accordance with food safety regulations. The distribution would occur the Saturday prior to Leon County Schools’ Spring Break in 2020 on March 14th.