That’s why our parent company, JM Family Enterprises, launched a food rescue program in partnership with several Southeastern nonprofits and our new food services provider, Sodexo. Two of our onsite dining facilities prepare food that’s offered to associates each day. But if there is leftover food, the nonprofits then pick up and redistribute it. Since the program began in July 2021, we’ve saved more than 6,300 pounds of food, or 5,300 meals.
Each day in Deerfield Beach, leftover food is collected for Boca Helping Hands.
In north Florida, those meals come from Portside Café in JM Family’s Jacksonville location. The food saved goes to three different nonprofits — Sulzbacher, Five-Star Veterans Center, and UNF Meals on Wings. So far, these organizations have redistributed more than 800 pounds of food, or nearly 700 meals.
Sulzbacher is a homeless shelter, while Five Star Veterans Center houses and treats veterans with mental health struggles. The nearby University of North Florida runs UNF Meals on Wings, which delivers healthy food to hundreds of seniors on the Meals on Wheels waitlist.
The rest of the meals come from JM Family’s Deerfield Beach location, home to a dining facility called The Nest. That’s where more than 5,500 pounds of food have been donated to Boca Helping Hands, an organization that offers food, financial assistance, healthcare, job training, and more to over 27,000 people in need each year. That’s about 4,600 meals!
But it’s not just food we’re offering — it’s money, too. JM Family also launched Vehicle for Change in September 2021, a program that gives our associates the chance to round up their purchases at our dining facilities. This money goes to Feeding South Florida, Feeding Northeast Florida, and the Banks-Jackson County Food Bank in Commerce, Georgia. Altogether, these food banks feed well over 3 million people a year.
This program punctuates our company’s ongoing dedication to ending hunger in our local communities. Southeast Toyota Finance recently donated $40,000 to three different food banks to celebrate our 40th anniversary. In 2020, JM Family teamed up with dealer partners to raise more than $226,000 for Feeding America, and in early 2021 associates across all business units participated in a virtual 5K Race to End Hunger, raising more than $200,000 for local food bank partners.