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Volunteers at the church distribute food to performers, musicians, costume designers, characters, technicians, and entertainment managers every Tuesday from 11 am to 1 pm.

There were stilt-walkers and dueling pianos outside St. Luke’s United Methodist Church Tuesday during a weekly food distribution for members of Orlando’s arts community.

Sara Elliott is executive director of 4Roots-a nonprofit that partners with the church to provide home-cooked meals and bags of groceries at the drive-thru site.

She says they try to keep the event “high energy” with different live performances each week.

“So you know even though the food insecurity issues are very serious, these events actually tend to have some joy in them as well.”

Elliott says they’ve seen an increase in demand for food since the site opened in April. She says that’s when gig and contract work started to dry up.

She says food distribution at the site follows strict CDC and state guidelines to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission between volunteers and the people they serve.

All local artists are invited to pick up a FREE meal and fresh produce TODAY UNTIL 1PM at St. Luke’s UMC as part of a partnership with Feed The Need Florida! Share this event, help spread the word, and we’ll see U there. *Meals are limited pic.twitter.com/TxAFYuyCyF

— St. Luke’s UMC (@StLukesOrlando) May 26, 2020

“People come through in their cars. They will open their trunks and we’ll put the meals and the groceries in their trunk and wish them well and send them on their way with a wave and a smile.”

The distribution site is open every Tuesday from 11 am to 1 pm. To find a list of food banks in Central Florida by zip code, click on the link.

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