LITHIA, Fla. — Seeds of Hope provides meals to hundreds of families in South Hillsborough County. The nonprofit is based in Lithia, and is almost entirely student-run. 

One Fish Hawk family has made volunteering for Seeds of Hope a big part of their lives. They said with demand reaching new levels, they need more families to join in and make sure no child goes hungry.

What You Need To Know

  • Seeds of Hope is a nonprofit that provides meals to hundreds of families in South Hillsborough County

  • The Summer Backpack Program provides take home meals for students and their families on weekends during the summer months

  • The group of volunteers, which are all high school students, are in charge of collecting food donations for families at three local elementary schools: Cimino, Robinson and Wimauma

Collecting food for Seeds of Hope is becoming a summer tradition for the Ayer family. 

Greyson will be a senior at Newsome High School and this summer. He’s following in his older brother’s footsteps: leading a group of volunteers for Seeds of Hope’s Summer Backpack Program.

“During the week, they get food brought to them during summer school, but on the weekends, they don’t get any food, so we pack bags for them and their families so they have food and meals on the weekends,” he said.

The group of volunteers, which are all high school students, are in charge of collecting food donations for families at three local elementary schools: Cimino, Robinson and Wimauma. Greyson’s mom, Tiffany, says just two years ago, they served about 55 families each week. Now, it’s 100-125 families every week, and that’s just this group.

“There is a student in almost every village in Fish Hawk that is collecting within their village, so every week they send out an email, a flyer, whatever they want, and they request certain things,” said Tiffany.

Students like Greyson and his friends are responsible for collecting all the donations for the summer backpack program and planning the meals.

“It helps us to know what to put into each bag, and I plan it out so that each week we try to plan the meals with what people donate and the money we have, but we also like to keep a variety for the families,” he said.

While it can be hard work, the Ayer family says they wouldn’t want to spend their summer any other way. 

“Seeds of Hope, I think, has been great for my family,” Tiffany said. “It gave the kids an opportunity to see things they are not accustomed to. We’re lucky enough to live in a community that is fairly affluent, we don’t see a lot of food insecurity here, but then working through Seeds of Hope they do realize that even some of their friends and neighbors use the resources, so I think it’s important,” said Tiffany.

An administrator at participating schools is responsible for finding the families in need of food during the summer months. They say they’re always looking for more student volunteers, and accepting donations to help more families.