FREEPORT, Fla. (WMBB) — Folks in Freeport expecting a food distribution were left without Tuesday. A church hosting the distribution said there was a halt from Feeding the Gulf Coast in food coming to the area.
“No, we have no halt on food. We have food,” said Mike Ledger, CEO of Feeding the Gulf Coast.
Ledger said the New Life SDA Church’s event canceled on Tuesday at the Walton County Community Center was a miscommunication.
“We actually don’t work directly with this group. They’re not one of our direct pantry partners and I think that sort of exacerbated the situation,” said Ledger.
The church posted Tuesday morning that Feeding the Gulf Coast halted food coming to the area, in turn canceling the free distribution event.
Ledger said the event was actually postponed due to a scheduling conflict for the food with a third-party partner, Destin Harvest.
“We have, across our entire network, over 800 partners that we work with in varying capacities whether that be child nutrition site, brick and mortar pantry, mobile pantry sites, several different forms of partnership that we have. Usually, that’s a direct relationship,” said Ledger. “Occasionally we’ll work through someone to get food to a third party and this is that circumstance here.”
Ledger said Feeding the Gulf Coast has trucks going to Freeport and DeFuniak Springs nearly every day. The organization plans to host a distribution working with the church directly in the coming days.
“We’re going to be working with this particular group and try to try to do a makeup here as quickly as possible because if we have a commitment, we take that seriously and if we’ve had an issue here, we’re going to work to rectify it as quickly as possible,” said Ledger.
Ledger said this unfortunate series of events serve as a reminder to the public of the need for food donations.
“Food scarcity and hunger is real in our community,” said Ledger. “Even missing one distribution on one day of the week and one afternoon in one community means a lot to a lot of people.”
New Life SDA Church hosts food distributions free to the public every second and fourth Tuesday of the month.
Find updates on distribution events on Feeding the Gulf Coast’s website. New Life SDA Church will post updates on distribution days on social media.
