Juvenile Welfare Board Holds a Hurricane Food Drive-Thru for Residents

Pinellas County residents who are still struggling after hurricanes Helene and Milton are getting some help from their community.

The Juvenile Welfare Board held a food drive through for those who lost everything in the storms in Tampa Bay’s Nick Volturo shows us how the community is banding together in a display of resilience as so many work to recover.

“Compassion in action in Clearwater. These kind of events really help people get food in their house to feed their families, an army of volunteers distributing food to those impacted by the hurricanes.”

“We lost all our food in our freezer and in our refrigerator; we got a side by side. We lost everything in it.” Herbert’s lived in Florida for more than 40 years and never witnessed this type of devastation: “Piles of rubble that people have put out there from their homes. It’s crazy, crazy.”

Some arrived early cars backing up for miles waiting for their turn at the table.

“They lost everything that was in their refrigerator,” said JWB CEO Beth Houghton. They lost days of work so they can’t easily go replenish it.”

Each car received about 50 pounds of food including meats with fresh fruits and vegetables.

“When it comes to eating, keeping the family going, these are wonderful.”

They also handed out both adult and infant hygiene items, like shampoo and diapers.

“It’s really helpful for the community because a lot of people have kids. Some people have like four or five kids and they really need this stuff.”

And for many here events like these are a life preserver.

“People like this, doing what they can for other people. It’s wonderful.”

Helping turn that grief into gratitude.

“Thank you for coming out. Have a good one.”

“It’s an amazing community. And it’s awful, but it’s heartening to see how much people are helping each other.”

The Juvenile Welfare Board will be hosting more pop-up drive through events. You can find a list of those on their website or Facebook page.

View the news segment as originally published at https://www.wtsp.com/video/news/local/pinellascounty//67-6edf3ee4-e2c5-491b-ba2b-5e58ad3aaacc or on Youtube