Mayor Jimmy Gray called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with all seven council members present. The session focused on Hunger Action Month, highlighting four local organizations working to combat food insecurity in Hampton.
The meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
Good evening and uh welcome to uh city council ceremonial session, also known as the spotlight session, and uh Madam Clerk, you call roll. Councilman Bowman, present, Vice Mayor Brown here, Councilwoman Campbell, present, Councilwoman Farabee, present, Councilwoman Harper, present, Councilwoman Muggler, present. Mayor Gray. Present. And so with that, I am going to turn it over to Brian Marcese, Marketing Outreach Coordinator to share some information on tonight's spotlight. Thank you, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, members of Council City Manager Bunting and City Attorney Sidner. Tonight's spotlight ties to one of Hampton's seven strategic priorities: family resilience and economic empowerment. Hunger is a hard subject, and the need in our community is real. But tonight's isn't just about naming that need. On site, they also connect families to vital records, benefits, applications, legal help, and they have a resource causciers to help visitors navigate both Thrive's own services and those in the commun with community partners. In 2025, Thrive served over 3,000 families right here in the city of Hampton, distributing $541,000 and two five hundred and forty-one thousand two hundred and thirty-two dollars worth of aid. And I'm sure that number will be even larger in 2026. At this time, I'd like to invite Angela York, the executive director, and Caroline Duttle, Director of Community Giving from Thrive Peninsula to come forward and be recognized. Thank you very much. Next we have the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank. This year the food bank is commemorating its fortieth year of service to our region in its 15th year in the in its current location in Hampton. In the most risk recent fiscal year alone, the food bank distributed more than one point nine million meals in Hampton, a financial value of near nearly four million in food provided to our neighbors experiencing hunger. More than eleven thousand households, almost twelve thousand households, made over 50,000 visits to the food bank, partner agencies, and program sites here in Hampton, and more than 4,000 visits compared, that's more than 4,000 visits compared to last year. The need continues to rise. Feeding America's map, the Meal Gap survey estimates more than 17,000 Hampton neighbors, including six thousand eight hundred ten children, could experience food insecurity this year. The food bank doesn't do this work alone. Thirty-five partner agencies right here in Hampton draw food from the food bank's warehouse to stock local pantries across the city. And their reach goes far beyond the general food pantry model. In Hampton, the food bank runs food for kids back to the backpack program at eight schools, sending home meals for kids through our local schools for the weekends. Mobile food pantry program brings healthy food directly to 10 community sites every month, support for support for more than 400 seniors monthly at a at six low-income housing locations, and there's hot nutritious dinners provided weekdays at 10 after-school sites through Kids Cafe, a school produce market program delivering fresh foods and vegetables at two schools each month as well. And on the healthy point specifically, more than 35% of everything the food bank distributes in Hampton is produce, purchased with the intentional focus of nutrition. They're also partners with local health care providers on the food as medicine initiatives, giving neighbors both the food and nutrition education they need to manage and prevent chronic health conditions. Over the past 15 years, the City of Hampton has provided the food bank with more than forty-six thousand dollars in grant funding. At this time, I'd like to invite Bob Latfist, the CEO of the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank to come forward. Okay, our third honoree is so all may eat, simply known as SAME, a ministry of Hampton Baptist Church. SAM started life in the 1960s as a soup kitchen, and in 2015 it grew into something even bigger. An interfaith ministry built on the idea that, as they put it, in God's eyes, we are all the same. Every Monday, SAME serves free hot lunches at no cost and with no questions. Right alongside it sits a free clothing closet and as supply allows toilet trees and household items. What we love about SAME is how they serve. Guests select their own groceries and can browse what clothing they may want rather than being handed a pre-packaged bag with the same dignity we've heard about tonight from Thrive. And the same partners directly with the food bank to run a monthly food uh pantry delivering groceries to about a hundred and twenty local households. Nearly all of this is powered by volunteers, many of whom aren't even members of the church, showing up weekly simply just because they believe in and what they're doing. Year to date, SAM is served 4,885 lunches at their Monday hot lunch. And they have distributed 36,000 pounds of food through their programs. They're adding at least 10 more people a week to their services and predict it will grow even more and faster. But rather than being discouraged by that, they're leaning in, ready to meet whatever need comes next, serving the Hampton and the Peninsula. At this time, I'd like to invite Don Gerbing and Irene Lininger to come forward. For Hampton seniors who can no longer easily cook or shop for themselves, Meals on Wheels delivers something more than a hot, nutritious lunch built around each person's dietary needs. It delivers friendly a friendly face. Monday through Friday, volunteer drivers knock on the door, check in, and make sure that neighbor is doing okay. For someone who might not have otherwise see a person all day, that visit can matter just as much as the meal itself. Peninsula Agency on Aging also runs dining clubs across Hampton and the peninsula, giving seniors a place to share a meal with company together rather than eating alone. Our friends at Potential Agency on Aging unfortunately couldn't be with us tonight. They actually have a regional conference that they're attending, but we didn't want to stop from celebrating them.