About Us
Who do we support?
According to the United Way’s United for ALICE project, “Traditional measures of poverty do not capture the magnitude of people who are struggling financially.”
ALICE includes our neighbors who are working – often more than one job – but due to the high cost of living, they are barely getting by. ALICE is someone you know. ALICE is your barista. Your hairstylist. Your Lyft driver. The manager at your favorite restaurant. The person who answers the phone when you call customer service. ALICE is your neighbor: 35% of Pinellas County residents are in the ALICE population and another 11% are living in poverty based on federal poverty levels. That means 46% of our neighbors are struggling to make ends meet or not making it at all.
About SPFC
Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, housing, employment, and access to healthcare. Communities that adequately address social determinants of health experience health equity, wherein no one is “disadvantaged from achieving their potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances (CDC.gov).”
St. Pete Free Clinic’s (SPFC’s) programs support health equity by providing nutritious food for those who need it, increasing access to healthcare, and increasing access to housing for those experiencing housing insecurity and substance use challenges.
Additionally, SPFC’s range of programs reduce the economic burdens of Pinellas County’s low-income and Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) population by providing services that lower monthly out-of-pocket expenditures, contribute to savings and long-term economic stability, and support long-term individual and family wellness.
Our Programs & Services
We Help FRESH Pantry
The We Help FRESH Pantry provides nutritious food for an average of 40,000 individuals per month. The FRESH Pantry ensures people not only have groceries to feed their families, they have FRESH, nutritious food that benefits their health.
Approximately fifty percent of households we serve are families with children.
FRESH Sprouts
The FRESH Sprouts Program helps develop healthy eating habits for families with a weekly delivery of a bag of fresh produce from SPFC to local pre-schools, along with coloring sheets, fun food facts, and kid-friendly recipes. SPFC “Table Talk Cards” are also included with deliveries and include fun questions and topics, bringing a lively feel to mealtimes, encouraging everyone to enjoy healthy food, conversation, and togetherness.
School Programs
School and Community-Based Food Pantries are established in collaboration with local strategic partners and stocked by the Free Clinic. Through a partnership with John’s Hopkins All Children’s (JHAC) Hospital, the Free Clinic provides food for pantries at Gibbs High School, Lakewood High School, and Dixie Hollins High School, as well as stocks JHAC’s Emergency Room food pantry for families experiencing food insecurity. A partnership directly with Campbell Park Elementary allows the Free Clinic to stock that school’s pantry.
The Pack-A-Sack Program provides school-aged children experiencing food insecurity pre-packed food to take home with them on Friday afternoons to ensure they have adequate food on weekends. We currently serve 13 schools and programs through this initiative.
Seasonal Partnerships
Seasonal Partnerships allow the Free Clinic to serve children and families during summer months when school-based programs are not able to support families’ food security. Each summer, We Help Services responds to requests from youth-serving organizations to provide healthy food for children during out-of-school time. Past partners include the City of St. Petersburg’s Parks & Recreation Department and the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation.
Mobile Food Distribution
Mobile Food Distribution sites are set up at strategic locations to address gaps in access to grocery stores, food pantries, and other stable sources of food and nutrition for Pinellas County families. Often hosted in collaboration with partner organizations, like Thrive by Five Pinellas and the YMCA, mobile distributions are oriented to address “last mile” access.
Client Advocate Services
We Help Client Advocate Services provides in-depth navigation for individuals who need access to community services that SPFC does not provide. Instead of a referral list of phone numbers, we often make connections on behalf of our clients and offer a “warm handoff” to ensure individuals get their needs met. Additionally, we help clients obtain driver’s licenses, birth certificates and other documents needed to secure housing and employment.
The Jared S. Hechtkopf Community Food Bank distributed OVER 20M pounds of food in FY24, nearly double the amount of food it distributed in 2019 (11.3M pounds). COVID-related demand required the food bank to increase distribution channels and find ways to source more food, including food able to be purchased in bulk for pennies on the dollar. Demand has remained relatively level due to complex economic factors, as described above, requiring Jared’s Food Bank to maintain greater distribution levels than its pre-COVID operations. Jared’s Food Bank provides food for over 50 partners throughout Pinellas County.
In addition to helping ensure our Pinellas County neighbors are fed, Jared’s Food Bank also helps keep people healthy with over 70% of food distributed throughout our community being fresh: produce, meat and dairy.
Primary & Specialty Medical Care
The Health Center offers access to quality healthcare for individuals who lack health insurance and meet other income requirements, allowing them to receive primary care, as well as a range of specialty care services. What could become an emergency doesn’t because of our patients’ capability to connect with our providers to address their health concerns. The Health Center serves more than 300 unique patients each month through volunteers, along with a small clinical staff.
Diabetes Education Management Program
The Health Center places particular emphasis on the management of chronic health conditions, including diabetes. Patients with diabetes are referred to our Healthy Living Coach (HLC) who creates individualized plans and works with the patient to set and achieve goals. The HLC communicates with each client at least monthly and in person every 3 months. Patients complete lab work every 3 months to track improvement in blood sugar levels. Patients set goals for healthy eating, exercise, and behavior modification to manage and control diabetes. Successful patients also receive a yearlong membership to the YMCA to support their fitness goals.
Lifestyle Rx Program
In 2020, SPFC implemented a Food Pharmacy, our food and Lifestyle Rx Program, to complement medical nutrition therapy offered by our Health Educator. Nutrition therapy improves health outcomes related to cardiovascular disease, diabetes (all types), kidney disease, and GI disease.
Prescription Health Program
The SPFC Prescription Health Program ensures patients can access expensive medications, like insulin, at no cost to them. PHP patients do not have to make the choice between paying their rent or getting the medication they need to live. This program provides more than $2M per year in prescription support for patients and recently expanded through a partnership with NeedyMeds, which helps deliver generics at no cost to patients (for someone on multiple meds, even at $5 or $10 per generic Rx, it adds up to be cost prohibitive).
Dental Center
The Dental Center provides over 250 patient services per month, offering a range of services including hygiene, extractions and fillings, as well as partial and full sets of dentures.
The Baldwin Women’s Residence and Men’s Residence provide safe transitional housing where those who are experiencing homelessness and recovering from substance use can gain stability in their recovery while obtaining and maintaining employment, saving money and rebuilding relationships. Residents must have 30 days of sobriety and lack permanent housing to qualify for our programs.
In our Men’s and Women’s Residences combined, 85% of our residents at any given time are employed and all are working toward achieving three months of savings.
Unique aspects of our residential program include no limit on length of stay. Some residents are ready to move out within a few months. Others are ready to move out in a year. We are willing to take the time necessary to ensure someone is truly ready to re-enter the “real world” successfully.
We also provide after-care check-ups. We check in with clients after they move out at 1 week, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months and 1 year after they move out, offering assistance and helping solve problems that may come up.
Partner with SPFC to Create Lasting Impact
SPFC’s programs support health equity by providing nutritious food for those who need it, increasing access to healthcare, helping those recovering from substance use with stable housing and support, and educating our community. Your generosity makes all the difference in our capability to serve our neighbors in need.
As a nonprofit, we rely on donations to provide the support Pinellas County deserves. Will you join us in supporting our neighbors?
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