A growing school-based food pantry programme in Hillsborough County has expanded into a countywide support system, helping tens of thousands of families and improving student academic outcomes by reducing hunger barriers.
A school-based food pantry programme that began as a modest pilot in eight Hillsborough County schools has grown into a countywide support network serving tens of thousands of people each year, according to Hillsborough County and Feeding Tampa Bay. The Feeding Minds School Pantry Programme now operates at 30 participating schools in Hillsborough County and about 90 school pantries across the wider Tampa Bay area, offering free groceries to families where children already spend much of their day.
County figures released in August show the programme helped 74,596 people from 21,396 households during the 2025-26 school year and distributed more than 811,600 pounds of food at participating schools. Since it began in 2018, the Hillsborough County partnership has provided more than 5.7 million meals, underscoring how a school-based model can reach families who might otherwise struggle to access a traditional pantry.
At Wimauma Elementary School, Principal Karen Fletcher said the need has risen steadily over time, and so has the school’s ability to meet it. She said the pantry has become part of a broader effort to support students academically by easing pressure at home, arguing that children who arrive hungry are less able to concentrate in class. Wimauma Elementary itself has improved from a “D” school grade to being only a few points short of a “B”, a change Fletcher linked to many factors, including the stability the pantry can bring to families.
Patricia Fleurijean, who has worked with the Wimauma pantry since it opened, said the operation has expanded far beyond its early days in a closet stocked with canned goods. The pantry now offers a wider range of food choices for families, many of whom, she said, live without reliable transport. That accessibility matters in a community where some parents walk to collect food and carry it home by hand, a challenge the school-based model is designed to reduce.
Feeding Tampa Bay says the aim is not only to help children, but to improve behaviour, attendance and academic performance more broadly by removing hunger as a barrier to learning. The programme brings together Feeding Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County Homeless and Community Services, the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County and Hillsborough County Public Schools, combining local funding and school access to create a network that is easier for families to use than a pantry set away from campus.
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