Refrigerated lockers to battle food insecurity in Walton County

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. ( WMBB ) — In DeFuniak Springs Thursday, the county unveiled lockers as the next step to battle food insecurity.

The Walton County Health Department and the Matrix Community Outreach Center partnered together to make the new lockers a reality.

The Matrix said they wanted a way to help clients in need without relying on volunteers to run food distributions.

The lockers are refrigerated and are being kept out of the elements. The matrix said they will have the lockers stocked by the end of August and they are easy to use.

“We have case managers and so as the case managers are meeting with the clients, what they’re going to do is once we get it up and running is they will tell them when the distributions are, we’ll be able to issue them an access code and they’ll be able to come at their convenience once the locker is stocked, put their code and get their food and take it home and eat it,” Matrix COC Executive Director Candy Knowling said.

At a price tag of $30,000, the locker rack ranges from room temperature for non-perishable items all the way down to freezing to store cold products.

The Matrix and the health department said they hope to add another locker system at the South end of the county later on.

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