NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Health departments in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk Counties, along with area hospitals, once again want to hear from the public about community health concerns. They're urging participation in the 2022 All4HealthFL Community Health Assessment. The last assessment, conducted in 2019, saw 20,000 participants.

"We'd love to have more people respond this time around. I will share with you that the methodology that we used within the survey in 2019 is not one that is typically used in community health needs assessment surveys. We were very dedicated to making sure that as many voices across our region were heard, and not only that, that we had representative samples. We didn't want to have a whole bunch of the same people sharing their ideas of need and disregard those other populations who may not be as easily reachable in community surveys," said Lisa Bell, manager of community benefit for BayCare Health System. BayCare hospitals are among the not-for-profit facilities that support the survey.

Bell said that according to 2019 respondents, food insecurity was one of the top unmet needs across all four counties at that time. In response, food pantries were established in 18 schools in the region, including Richey Elementary School. 

"I know at first we had only a few families that responded. I think it was just something that they had to become familiar with, but we knew that it was a need," said Richey Elementary Principal Amy Haskedakes.

Pantry Volunteer Andrea Monge said about 30 families are currently served by the pantry, with seven more signing up this week. Staff are also welcome to utilize the pantry. Monge said shipments of food from Feeding Tampa Bay come in every other week and fill the shelves.

"By the end of the second week, we're pretty empty," Monge said. "There's a lot of families taking food and needing food and needing help."

One of those lined up at Thursday's outdoor distribution was Michelle Smith, who said she was picking up food for her daughter's household.

"It means a lot," Smith said of the pantry. "They both work, but it's hard to make ends meet sometimes."

Cynthia Mason works at Richey Elementary as a tutor. She said she recently moved from Long Island, New York to live with her daughter and two teenage grandchildren in Pasco County. The pantry has become a resource for the household.

"It definitely helps out with teenagers, and especially, it's like basics—bread, cereal, things that you always have to buy every single week," Mason said. 

School leaders say even staff who don't take food from the pantry home will stop by.

"A lot of our staff, they'll come in and shop for their students for their classrooms, and so that's really nice, too," said Assistant Principal Trisha Iarussi.

Bell said BayCare and other health systems work to address needs identified by the data collected during the survey. For instance, she said about $12.5 million from the budgets of BayCare's hospitals go toward supporting programs like the Richey pantry every year. The goal is to make sure resources are always available when they're needed.

The pantries are just one of the initiatives that resulted from the last assessment. The health departments say the public's feedback is important to implementing programs that benefit everyone.