NE Tallahassee concert helps FSU Food for Thought Pantry tackle food insecurity

• Local musicians hosted a free, 'Music for Food' concert benefiting FSU's Food for Thought Pantry.
• Neighbors showed up with monetary and food donations.
• Watch the video to hear how the musicians and neighbors are tackling food insecurity for students in our communities.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Music to nourish our souls and food to nourish our community.

That’s the goal behind a local music concert benefitting the FSU Food Pantry.

I’m Kenya Cardonne, in the Northeast Tallahassee neighborhood.

As 1-in-5 FSU students struggle with food insecurity, local musicians are putting their strings together to change that.

Haley Gentile, Director of FSU Food for Thought Pantry - “Food insecurity has a lot of negative impacts on students. We know that it leads to lower GPA outcomes, it leads to more failed classes, makes it harder to focus..”

Haley Gentile is the Manager at Florida State University’s Food for Thought Pantry.

The pantry’s mission is to help take the struggle of food insecurity off of students’ plates and replace it with food.

It's a resource Gentile tells me she’s seen a high need for amongst FSU students recently.

Gentile - “In the month of June 2024, we served just under 400 different students at the FSU Food for Thought Pantry. For a typical summer month, usually, we serve about half of that. So, it’s almost double a typical summer month.”

In an effort to make sure the pantry’s shelves are stocked for this kind of demand, a group of Tallahassee musicians hosted a free ‘Music for Food’ concert at the Grace Lutheran Church on Sunday. The event directly benefited the Food for Thought Pantry.

Neighbors showed up with donations and non-perishable food items before enjoying some musical relief.

Corinne Stillwell, Co-Artistic Director - “I see the need for this everyday in my own students and in the students in our college and so, as musicians, we wanted to come together and support that.”

FSU professor and Co-Artistic Director of the event, Corinne Stillwell, tells me helping the pantry tackle food insecurity through these concerts has been an ongoing mission.

Stillwell - “So far we have raised over $7,000 since 2019. We hope as our momentum builds as we are building back as a series, to build the momentum in the donations as well.”

Donations that Gentile tells me will do more than just fill shelves at the pantry.

Gentile - “They can focus back on their academics and the reason that they came to Florida State University. I like to think about it as we are supporting students so they can be self-reliant in the future.”

If you missed Sunday’s concert, another one will take place on October 6th.

Click here to find out how you can contribute to the food pantry in the meantime.

In Northeast Tallahassee, Kenya Cardonne, ABC 27.