OKEECHOBEE — No Kid Hungry Florida’s inaugural Rural Learning Cohort funded Our Village Okeechobee and Okeechobee County School District with $50,000 to support peer-to-peer collaboration and innovation around the unique challenges and opportunities associated with feeding kids in rural communities.

“From my 15 years of experience working in school food service across multiple districts, I can confidently say that students can’t learn if they’re hungry,” said Lisa Bell, Food Service Supervisor of Okeechobee County School District. “The grant from No Kid Hungry Florida has helped make it possible for students to get the nutrition they deserve. It has been an incredible experience partnering with Our Village Okeechobee to combine our resources and make sure our students are supported while they are in school and out of school.”

This partnership led to an expansion of refrigeration and transportation capabilities for Our Village Okeechobee to bring fresh produce from local farmers directly to families. In addition, it led to an expansion of their food pantry services and additional support helping families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) application process.

“Being connected with the Okeechobee County Schools District through the Rural Learning Cohort has truly helped us to reach more people and see our dreams come to life,” said Leah Suarez, CEO of Our Village Okeechobee. “Our goal has always been to give people a hand up, not a handout. The funding and support from No Kid Hungry Florida finally allowed us to start all the programs we needed in order to do that.”

“We know that child hunger exists in every Florida community, however the last couple of years have highlighted the unique challenges rural communities face. Watching these partnerships flourish through this cohort has been an amazing experience and I look forward to continuing our work with rural communities,” said Joshua Proffitt, who led this year-long initiative on behalf of No Kid Hungry Florida.

After seeing the success of this year, No Kid Hungry Florida has opened up applications for a second cohort. School districts and community-based organizations throughout rural areas can apply on the No Kid Hungry Florida website.