Santa Rosa Medical Center Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive Collects More than 1,300 Jars for Local Food Organizations

4/2/2024

MILTON, FL - To help address hunger in the community, and to celebrate National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day on April 2, Santa Rosa Medical Center (SRMC) has donated 1,326 jars of peanut butter to two local food agencies through their second Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive.

This year’s event benefited FoodRaising Friends, Inc. and Feeding the Gulf Coast. The hospital encouraged community members, as well as its employees, medical staff members, and volunteers to donate the protein packed-food over the last six weeks.

According to Feeding the Gulf Coast, 1-in-6 individuals along the Gulf Coast struggle to put food on the table. The goal of the Jars of Love Peanut Butter Drive is to help support individuals facing food insecurity, which is a social determinant of health.

“Our employees and the community really turned out for this year’s drive. Improving access to nutritious and healthy food, like peanut butter, helps fulfill our mission to help people get well and live healthier,” said Justin Serrano, chief executive officer. “We had collection points at all of our locations and some area-businesses even took up collections to help our efforts. It was really heart-warming to be able to not only meet our initial goal - - but to exceed it this year.”

In 2023, SRMC donated 464 jars of peanut butter to Feeding the Gulf Coast (FtGC). This year, they split the donated jars between FtGC and FoodRaising Friends, Inc. (FRF) to support their school-based food giveaway ahead of spring break. SRMC’s donation helped FRF provide 700 families in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties with peanut butter for their food distribution. The hospital’s donation to FtGC equaled 749 lbs of food or 625 meals for area families.

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