Salvation Army opens Sarasota food pantry to meet increased need

Although areas of Sarasota may be affluent, the city also contains pockets of greater need.

One such area is where the Salvation Army just opened its new Food Pantry and Feeding Program the week of May 13, at its Sarasota Corps on Tuttle Avenue.

“There's just so much going on right now,” said Michele Matthews, area commander for Sarasota County. “The cost of living, the cost of housing and the lack of affordable housing within the community is just stretching people, more and more.”

The program is the first fully accessible food pantry within the immediate Sarasota area that Matthews can recall the organization offering.

A pantry on 10th Street has been reserved mainly for those involved in other Salvation Army programs, such as recovery and group home programs. 

Photo by Ian Swaby

The organization had already been operating a food pantry in Venice, which last year provided 10,647 grocery orders to individuals struggling with food insecurity.

Staff decided to open a location in Sarasota when they saw a large increase in the number of visitors to the Venice location, as well as increasing requests for food items from those seeking help with utilities in Sarasota.

All Faiths Food Bank is working in partnership with the Salvation Army on the project, though it is also receiving donations from other parties including Publix and Costco.

Matthews said one reason for the great need in Sarasota County, but particularly the northern part of the county, is the major employers are the tourism, trade, hospitality and restaurant industries.

“Those are some of our biggest employers, but those also hire the lowest wage earners, and then those are the folks that get really stretched with inflation and all of those other higher-cost items,” she said.

Matthews said the number of attendees has been growing each week since the pantry opened.

The organization is currently working to expand the space to encompass other parts of the building, with the hope that it can offer a selection broad enough to allow users to choose their preferred types of items.