The St. Petersburg Free Clinic has opened a new appointment-based food access location, called the FRESH Pantry, at the Jared S. Hechtkopf Community Food Bank in Lealman. Clients began to shop at the facility Aug. 4.
Established in 1970, the organization provides nutritious food, healthcare and community support services to local individuals and families.
“What the statistics tell us is that 69% of our neighbors in Lealman are either living in poverty or under the ALICE threshold,” St. Petersburg Free Clinic CEO Jennifer Yeagley explained to the Catalyst. “ALICE stands for asset limited, income constrained and employed. This means that nearly 70% of our neighbors in the area where the new pantry is located are having trouble making ends meet in any given month.”
“Their paychecks just don’t stretch far enough to afford the basics, like groceries, rent and transportation,” she continued. “We know that being able to help people by providing free, healthy groceries can really make a dent in families’ personal budgets.”
Prior to the launch of the new pantry, more than 2,000 Lealman residents accessed the Free Clinic’s food services each month through a downtown St. Petersburg location and a mobile drive-thru distribution site in south St. Petersburg.
The Lealman facility will operate Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yeagley said the Free Clinic hopes to expand the pantry’s hours by adding more days. Additionally, the organization plans to offer health and navigation services at the site in the future.
“Appointment-based services for pantries are new for us,” she explained. “So, we want to make sure we get that right before we are open every day and are flooded with folks. We want to be sure that we’re stepping into that in a way that’s sustainable.”
Yeagley added that an appointment-based model “leverages the location itself.” The Lealman property has fewer parking spaces than the Free Clinic’s other locations.
The Jared S. Hechtkopf Community Food Bank was, for many years, the Free Clinic’s “backend warehouse.” She said that the organization outgrew the space and moved to a larger 36,000-square-foot facility in 2025.
Since the move, the Free Clinic has maintained a presence at the building. Yeagley explained that the organization has continued to store food there. Additionally, volunteers have utilized the site for different projects. The opening of the new FRESH Pantry has allowed the Jared S. Hechtkopf Community Food Bank to be public-facing again.
“We had this incredibly well-placed building that is set up to provide food access in a high need area,” she said. “So, we wanted to be sure to activate that space to best serve our neighbors.”
The experience is akin to shopping at a supermarket. Clients can receive items such as produce, meat, dairy, eggs and bread.
“We allow folks to visit St. Pete Free Clinic locations up to twice a month,” Yeagley explained. “Our choice model allows people to select the groceries that they want and avoid taking things that are not a fit for them or their families.”
This article provided in partnership with stpetecatalyst.com.