Catholic Social Teaching tells us that food is a fundamental human right, not a commodity, emphasizing that every person requires access to adequate nutrition to live with dignity.
Pope Leo XIV, with his May 2026 prayer intention as a platform, prays “That everyone might have food. Let us pray that everyone from large producers to small consumers, be committed to avoid wasting food, and to ensure that everyone has access to quality food.”
Pope Leo demands a moral response to hunger to ensure that everyone has access to quality food while also avoiding waste, calling on the faithful to confront the problem of food insecurity with both prayer and concrete action.
Bishop Frank J. Dewane said that since all human life is sacred, access to food is a basic right necessary to life. “Hunger is not someone else’s problem; it is a shared moral responsibility for all to act.”
Within the Diocese of Venice there are more than a dozen food pantries of varying sizes which combine to help hundreds of families each day and tens of thousands each month.
Among the 15 largest food pantries in the Diocese, including those run by Catholic Charities, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and individual Parishes, tens of thousands of people are spared from going hungry each month.
Food pantries were initially established at Parishes and in communities to help families in a crisis. However, because of rapidly rising costs of not just food, but also gasoline, medicines, and other necessities, combined with season layoffs and a tight local job market, pantry staff and volunteers are now seeing people entering their doors who have previously never needed food before.
To maximize donations, nearly all of the larger food pantries in the Diocese have transitioned from the drive-thru model, which created tremendous waste, to a “Choice Pantry.”
A “Choice Pantry” is when someone comes to a pantry needing food and they have a “mini shopping experience” (similar to shopping at a chosen retail grocery store) where they choose the foods their family will eat. Volunteers explain the “points system” – how everything on the shelves has a point value and where each household is assigned points for shopping based on the number of people needing food. There is no cash, only points, for food. Remarkably, most families don’t use all their points as they select only the food their family will eat, meaning food waste is virtually nonexistent.
“The need is growing, and we are doing everything we can to keep up because no one should have to wonder where their next meal will come from,” said Jenny Muñoz, Catholic Charities Desoto County Regional Director. The DeSoto County office in Arcadia hosts a “Choice Pantry” which serves about 2,600 individuals and families each month, up from only 800 a month just six months ago.
Muñoz said the massive increase in demand can be attributed to multiple factors, such as the conversion from a drive-thru to a Choice Pantry distribution, and an expansion of operating hours, including two evenings each week.
“It is really about meeting the needs of the community,” Muñoz said. “Parents, grandparents and neighbors come through our food pantry and shop with dignity for only the items they need and leave with full carts and full hearts. But behind every cart is a growing need. With the generosity of our many benefactors helping to keep our shelves stocked and our doors open, we are providing hope for every family who walks through.”
In the most recent fiscal year, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice Inc. provided food to 95,588 at six locations and is projected to reach 119,500 by the end of the current fiscal year. This is in addition to disaster relief operations after Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton in 2024, which distributed food to 8,100 families in a two week period. Following Hurricane Ian in 2022 Catholic Charities distributed 2,504 tons of supplies, and provided food to 115,747 people, plus an additional 22,492 hot meals, in the first month after the storm. In addition to those impressive numbers, Catholic Charities also provides after school food for 75 children each week, a number that jumps to 150 each week for children participating in summer camps.
Sadly, most of the increase in demand at Catholic Charities and other pantries is from fixed-income senior citizens, said Catholic Charities CEO Christopher M. Root. “The seniors must make hard choices when it comes to expenses. Catholic Charities is there to provide the food they need to survive.”
Dan Freidrich, Director of the St. Joseph Food Pantry in Bradenton, noted that 31 percent of the population of Manatee County does not earn enough to sustain their standard of living. “People must make choices everyday between paying for childcare, paying for medicines, rent or groceries. At St. Joseph Food Pantry we believe nobody should go hungry.”
On a smaller scale, the more than 200 families every month who receive food at the St. Michael Parish Choice Pantry in Wauchula rely on donations from regional food banks, as well as other Parishes and individual benefactors, said Pantry Director Sister Maria de Talpa, a Servant Sister of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara.
“We have Knights of Columbus who bring trailers of food, and we have good relationships with other providers,” Sister Maria said. “Sometimes I worry if we will have enough to meet the demand, but it all comes down to Divine Providence.”
One of the newest food pantries in the region is the Twelve Baskets Food Pantry at St. Thomas More Parish in Sarasota. Open every Wednesday, the pantry was opened in 2025 to meet a demand in the community to help people with food insecurity.
Another new food pantry is Table of Plenty at St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Cape Coral. The pantry operates out of the Parish Hall and had only four visitors when it debuted in 2022. Kathy Anderson, who helped found the food pantry, said the pantry “now serves 40 to 60 families on the third Friday of each month. We distributed more than 30,000 pounds of food in 2025.”
The St. Vincent de Paul Sacred Heart Conference in Punta Gorda has Choice Pantry hours three days a week and provides five days of food to 17,437 individuals each year.
Tony Rivera, Vice President of the Sacred Heart Conference said the switch to a Choice Pantry made a huge difference in lowering the waste and helped streamline the food distribution process. “We help our friends and neighbors in a dignified way,” Rivera said. “It is not easy for someone to come asking for food. We understand that.”
The food pantries in the Diocese of Venice receive food from donations, Parish food drives and regional food banks, such as Midwest Food Bank of Florida based in Fort Myers, All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota, Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers and Naples, and Feeding Tampa Bay.
If you need food, or would like to support a food pantry in your area, please contact individual food pantries, or Parishes to learn of an affiliated food pantry, as well as to learn details on future food collections or how to volunteer.
Helping Catholic Charities food pantries
You can support each food pantry by donating food directly to each location, or by specifying your financial donation by visiting https://catholiccharitiesdov.org/donate.
Food Pantries within the Diocese of Venice
- Arcadia – DeSoto County Catholic Charities – 863-494-1068 – 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Monday and Wednesday, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. – 11a.m. Friday,
- Bokeelia – Pine Island Food Pantry – Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Parish – 760-529-7238 – 9 a.m. – 11 a.m., Monday and Thursday,
- Bonita Springs – Juan Diego Outreach Center, Catholic Charities – 239-390-2928 – 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Fridays,
- Bradenton – St. Joseph Food Pantry – 941-756-3732 – 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Monday – Friday. For details visit https://www.stjoepantry.com/,
- Cape Coral – St. Katharine Drexel Food Pantry – 239-283-9501 – 9 a.m. – noon, third Friday of each month,
- Clewiston – St. Margaret Parish, Catholic Charities – 239-334-4007, ext. 2103 – 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Friday,
- Fort Myers – Elizabeth K. Galeana Food Pantry, Catholic Charities – 239-334-4007, ext. 2103 – 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thursdays,
- Fort Myers – Jesus the Worker Food Pantry – 239-693-5333 – 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., Tuesday and Saturday,
- Grove City – St. Francis of Assisi Food Pantry – 941-697-4899 – 9:15 a.m. -11:15 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
- Immokalee – Guadalupe Social Services of Catholic Charities 239-657-6242, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Monday – Friday,
- Naples – Judy Sullivan Family Resource Center, of Catholic Charities – 239-793-0059 – 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Wednesday and Thursday,
- Naples – St. Vincent de Paul Family Assistance Center – 239-775-2907: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, Friday. For details visit https://www.svdpnaples.org/,
- Punta Gorda – St. Vincent de Paul, Sacred Heart Conference – 25200 Airport Road – 941-575-0767: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, Friday. For details, visit https://www.svdppg.org/,
- Sarasota – St. Jude Food Pantry – 941-955-3934 – 3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Wednesday,
- Sarasota – St. Thomas More Food Pantry – 941-923-1691 – 3 p.m. – 6 p.m., Wednesday,
- Wauchula – St. Michael Food Pantry – 863-773-4089 – 7 a.m. – 8:45 a.m., Saturday.
