Stay tuned in to our local news coverage: Listen to 90.7 WMFE on your FM or HD radio, the WMFE mobile app or your smart speaker — say “Alexa, play NPR” and you’ll be connected.

Orange County leaders and members of the county’s MLK Initiative joined volunteers today for an MLK Pre-Day of Service at Second Harvest Food bank in Orlando.

The teams put together breakfast and lunch boxes that will be distributed to children in local Head Start programs. 

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings along with Commissioners Mayra Uribe and Maribel Gomez Cordero helped pack boxes with juice and fresh fruit. 

Demings said the Mercy Drive location of Second Harvest alone produces some 30,000 meals a day.

“So these challenging times that we’ve been living in since the pandemic has really put an exclamation point on the fact that food is certainly one of those things within our community that we see is definitely needed by many of our families.” 

Demings said the MLK Pre-Day of Service was in the spirit of the man himself. 

Photo: Danielle Prieur

“And so while we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go. Of course that is indicative of the tone of the times that we’re living in. Where there are these calls for criminal justice reform, social justice reform.”

Second Harvest estimates one in six Central Floridians are currently struggling with food insecurity.