Disney union working to keep families fed after federal program exhausts funding

ORLANDO, Fla. — A local Disney union is trying to raise money to keep feeding thousands of hungry families after they stopped receiving food boxes provided by the federal government.

Disney union members were among the volunteers who spent Friday preparing for a food distribution event that has drawn thousands of families seeking help in past weeks.

READ: Stimulus update: Bipartisan COVID-19 bill gains support; $300 weekly unemployment a ‘good start’

The goal: Help hand out food to the thousands of hotel and restaurant workers who lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic.

The union says 5,000 of its members were laid off by Disney, including Sharon Ryan.

“A lot of times you can’t give money, but you can always give time,” Ryan says. “This is my time to give.”

The bags of food volunteers like Ryan are preparing will go out to any family that needs it during the Saturday Morning Drive at Seasons Florida Resort in Kissimmee.

READ: Florida reports more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases for second day in a row

The union has been holding these distribution events for the past 29 weeks.

Now that it’s no longer receiving food boxes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families program- which included eggs, milk, and meat- the union says this week, they’ll have to give less.

“Those boxes were the best,” Ryan says.

The federal program provided three truck loads of food worth more than $150,000 a week, until the USDA ran out of Families First Coronavirus response and CARES Act funding.

READ: House passes bill to decriminalize marijuana

Local 737 Union President Jeremy Haicken says they’re trying to raise more money. The union is still working with partners like the Society of St. Andrew, which dropped off ears of corn, but doesn’t know what they’ll do for the next week.

“Congress needs to step up now.”

Cox Media Group