UF Health St. Johns Care Connect to host free drive-thru food distribution Thursday

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — UF Health St. Johns Care Connect will host a drive-thru food distribution on Thursday, Sept. 19, offering the community access to free groceries.

The event runs from 2- 5 p.m. at 1 Orthopedic Place, St. Augustine, and will also offer free health screenings with potential referrals via a mobile clinic.

UF Health St. Johns Care Connect is working with Publix, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and Epic-Cure, a food rescue nonprofit, to provide up to 500 families with 50 pounds of essentials, according to UF Health St. Johns Care Connect Network Partnership and Expansion Lead Jennifer Wills.

Some of these essentials include fresh dairy, meats, grains, fruits, vegetables, and snacks as well as baby formula, menstrual products, and dental hygiene products. Many of the items were rescued from places like grocery stores and restaurants that otherwise would have thrown them away.

Care Connect already holds market-style food distributions on Tuesdays through a church with Epic-Cure, but Wills said a mobile distribution is much more accessible.

Attendees don’t have to leave their cars and will only be asked for non-identifying statistics about their household to let volunteers assess how much food to give.

“We’re bringing food to the people,” Wills said. “We just want to help make things easier on the community so that we can support them.”

Epic-Cure will provide the food, sheriff’s deputies will help keep traffic moving, and Publix will provide volunteers. Publix CEO Kevin Murphy will also attend.

Food insecurity is one of the easiest and most important issues to address as a community, Wills said.

“Suffering from a food insecurity has so much of a deeper ramification than just not having a bowl of soup for a day,” she said. “It affects how you can function in day-to-day life.”

The event will help people navigate rising expenses, she said.

“When we hear that people are going without medication because they need to buy food or going without food to buy medication, that should just not happen,” she said. “We're sewing up the holes in the fabric of our community that people will fall through.”

Food is distributed first come, first served while supplies last. Any leftover food will help feed farm animals in Putnam County.