West Orange communities come together amid SNAP cuts

Sara Meyer, founder and executive director of Eight Waves, saw a woman running after a truck with 2,200 meals the nonprofit packed and distributed Friday, Nov. 7, to Winter Garden families in need.

Meyer said the mother was sobbing. She thought the distributors forgot about her. 

The mother said she had no food at home and needed the support to feed her four children. 

“We carried the food bin into her home and truly, we got to see that she really had no food and she was a mom of four,” Meyer said. “Even talking about it makes me very emotional, because it’s one thing to read about it or talk about it, but to visually see the lack of food and then the relief on her face — it’s powerful.” 

Eight Waves, which works with at-risk children, is collecting food items to help the community through the SNAP benefits crisis. 

The nonprofit as well as other West Orange County community members, ministries and organizations came together to feed their communities as Floridians have lost their food stamp benefits because of the government shutdown. 

Eight Waves identified 352 children in need of food. 

“We made one social media post and a follow-up post, and we had (more than) $12,000 worth of food donated and shipped to us,” she said. 

Although this has been a hardship for the organization, Meyer said it’s a beautiful one as community members come together to alleviate the issue.

Rotary Club of Horizon West, Meritage Homes, community members and even meat butchers helped Eight Waves by providing money, SUVs full of groceries and food items ready to be distributed. 

More than just helping children, Eight Waves is dedicated to helping the elderly through the crisis, as well. 

“We had an 88-year-old woman named Anne who sobbed when we brought food into her house because she didn’t have dinner the night before or breakfast that morning,” Meyer said. “She didn’t have the resources to purchase food nor did she drive or have transportation.” 

Meyer said they will continue to collect and distribute food for as long as SNAP benefits are unavailable. 

“We are a 1,000% committed until this ends and SNAP benefits are fully back on,” she said.

The nonprofit donated five boxes of food to Horizon High School after hearing of former Horizon High teacher Megan Correira’s efforts to support students in need.

“I felt like I haven’t been able to do anything,” Correira said. “I just knew I needed to help my community, I just didn’t know how to go about it. High schoolers are different than younger children. … When you’re close to being an adult, you start to recognize feelings of embarrassment and you might not openly admit you or your family are struggling, so I felt like that would be a good area to focus on.”

Correira is collecting nonperishable food items to stock Horizon High’s food pantry. 

“There are kids there who are homeless and there are kids there whose parents recently were furloughed by the federal government, so the strain on that food pantry is enormous,” she said. 

So far, she’s collected $2,100 in cash donations and six loads of food items. 

“I did not expect the response that I got, and I’m so thankful that the people have come together and donated,” she said. 

Every Friday, she plans to drop off donations at the school but she’s hoping to host a community food drive to make an even bigger impact. 

“Just because somebody lives in Hamlin, it doesn’t mean that they’re not struggling,” Correira said. 

Some items being collected include Spaghettios, mac and cheese cups, granola bars, cereal, shelf-stable milk and other nonperishable foods teenagers would enjoy. 

Matthew’s Hope also is committed to providing the West Orange community with food while the government is shutdown, although they have been harshly impacted by it. 

“Right now, we have surpassed 1,100 touches a week,” founder Scott Billue said. “So basically, we’re providing six days of food in one day, and we’re doing that a few times a week. That adds up really, really quick. There really is nobody anywhere near us in the Southeast that is doing these kinds of numbers.” 

The organization’s biggest goal is to keep its pantry full at all times with items that don’t need to be refrigerated or cooked. 

“The challenge we have here is when the community doesn’t respond, good people make bad decisions when they are hungry and can’t get the things they need,” Billue said. “I’ve gotten several phone calls, emails and texts, saying, ‘Scott, you know, we’re on SNAP benefits ourselves, but there’s people worse off than we are. We want to help.’

I really can’t say enough about how much the community has rallied around us and tried to more so than ever understand what the true face of homelessness looks like,” he said.