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Alabama tornadoes, Bob Bostic, boxes of hope, children's feeding program, Deliver the Difference, delivering hope, disaster relief, Disasters, Eustis, feeding children, fight agaist hunger, FL, Haiti, Haiti Earthquake, helping the hungry, homeless children, Horn of Africa, Hunger, hunger in Central Florida, Joe Hurston, Joplin tornado, Lake County, Marion County, Midwest tornados, Sumter County, Tavares, Thanksgiving meal, Thurd World countries, volunteers
Bob Bostic of Tavares, FL is on a mission to deliver hope to the hungry.
I first met Bob in July 2011 right after the Midwest tornados. Brevard County missionary Joe Hurston helped us to connect when he heard I was filling up a U-Haul truck with supplies to take to the tornado survivors. Deliver the Difference was kind enough to donate a couple pallets filled with pre-packed meals.
Responding to disasters, shipping meals to Haiti and other third world countries and providing nutritious meals throughout central Florida is how Bob Bostic, director of Deliver the Difference is able to help fight hunger at home and around the globe.
Last month the agency delivered 1,000 Thanksgiving meals throughout Lake County. The holiday meal packages were designed to feed a family of four containing an 11-14 pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, yams, cranberry sauce, bread rolls, and pumpkin pie.
The agency has a simple and clear mission: To fight hunger by delivering the difference one meal at a time.
In addition to providing holiday meals, Deliver the Difference orchestrates an impressive children’s feeding program and ships thousands of pre-packed meals from their warehouse in Eustis, FL. Volunteers meet monthly to assist with the packing and shipping.
The organization got its start in 2010 by packaging 200,000 meals for the earthquake disaster in Haiti. In that first year they packaged 246,000 meals. In 2011 they shipped 100,000 meals after the Japan earthquake, then 50,000 meals were packaged after the Alabama tornadoes. Also in 2011, another 10,000 meals were packaged and shipped after the Joplin tornado. Also in 2011, the agency sent 154,000 meals to the Horn of Africa. At the end of the year 2011 over 507,000 meals were packaged and distributed globally.
Bostic said that’s when he started to notice the number of homeless in his own community and decided to do something.
In November 2012 Deliver the Difference prepared and served Thanksgiving dinner for over 1,200 people. In December, they prepared and delivered over 800 Boxes of Hope in Lake County. Over 2,400 volunteers gave their time to package the meals.
We feel the name “Deliver The Difference” is perfect because it is what we do, we deliver the difference to families and children in need, said Bostic.
According to Bostic there are over 3,500 school children in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties who are homeless. So in 2013, the agency launched an ambitious feeding program for local children by providing over 400 children with 1,500 meals per week.
To learn more about Deliver the Difference and how you can help stop hunger, please visit their website at http://www.deliverthedifference.org/stf.htm
They are located in Lake County, Florida.