All Faiths Food Bank has served DeSoto County for over 25 years and, in the fall of 2019, celebrated the official opening of its new DeSoto Food and Resource Center (DeSoto FRC) in Arcadia. Funded by six visionary donors and initiated as a pilot program, the DeSoto FRC was created as a hub to provide services and strengthen partnerships with other programs. Building on their initial grant to support the opening of the DeSoto FRC, Elsa and Peter Soderberg have provided a three-year lead gift of $600,000 to help subsidize three new mobile pantries. These new mobile pantries will provide food to neighbors in remote areas of DeSoto County, as well as offer benefits assistance, nutrition education, wrap-around services on-site and compensation for a truck driver. The funding will be distributed on a payment schedule running through June 30, 2026. In addition to this gift, several other funders have also committed to funding the DeSoto FRC over the next three years. In 2021-2022, All Faiths conducted two new community assessments that examined DeSoto County issues facing residents such as, the impacts of Covid and hurricane disasters on available services and gaps in services and opportunities for the DeSoto FRC to provide additional assistance. Based on the findings of the assessments, it was determined there was a need for expansion of the facility and additional services including food distribution, outreach, and benefits assistance in remote, unserved areas. Paradoxically, in rural areas that grow most of our nation’s food, households face considerably deeper struggles with hunger than those in metropolitan areas. In DeSoto County, where agriculture is the dominant industry, the number of persons living in poverty is nearly 26% (the national average is 12.8%). With a population of just over 34,400 (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), median household income in DeSoto County is just under $40,000 versus the median income in Sarasota County of nearly $72,000. The Food and Resource Center is unique in the nation and an innovative model for the Feeding America network. Not only is All Faiths addressing hunger but focusing on the root causes of hunger, which is essential to lifting families and communities out of poverty.