“Together, we really can solve the root causes of hunger, but it takes commitment and collaboration,” said Dan Green of the Longwood-based nonprofit organization Feeding Children Everywhere. Green was recently honored as Central Floridian of the Year. He was recognized for his intensive and dedicated work to the cause of eradicating world hunger, with specific focus on his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Green’s list of accomplishments is steller. It includes delivering 600,000 meals for those in Texas impacted by Hurricane Harvey, providing 1.5 million meals to people across Florida and Georgia after Hurricane Irma, and – perhaps the icing on the cake – the recruiting of more than 54,000 volunteers over the course of 19 days to help package 4.4 million meals for the people of Puerto Rico.
Born in Gainesville, Green grew up in an impoverished and inconsistent home. He left at 16, moving in with a teenage friend and bumming change at school so he could hustle up enough for a vending-machine lunch. Though he started drinking young, he still managed to earn good marks in the classroom and won a math scholarship to the University of Florida. However, he dropped out after only one semester, according to his recent interview in The Orlando Sentinel.
Instead of continuing with college, Green took a minimum-wage job with a pool company and started working his way up, first to a sales job, then to management. By the time he was 21, he was general manager of a $2 million-a-year business and paying his own way to earn a college degree in business, according to The Orlando Sentinel. It wasn’t until a life-changing hike through the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada, that he realized he could turn his whole life around and make something better for himself, which led him to Feeding Children Everywhere.
Green was nominated for the Central Floridian of the Year award by readers of The Orlando Sentinel before being selected as one of five finalists by the editorial board.
“At the annual banquet, the winner was announced, and I was shocked to hear that it was me,” said Green in an email interview. “ It was a surreal and humbling experience.”
Lake Nona has helped play its own role in the success of Feeding Children Everywhere. The Nonahood is home to a variety of partners for the nonprofit, specifically the Griffin family. Conner and Evelyn and their two children have been incredible hunger hero partners over the last five years. Volunteers from Lake Nona also were part of the massive 54,000-person group that helped to pack meals for Puerto Rico.
As far as the upcoming year goes, Green has big plans for Feeding Children Everywhere. “Big initiatives for 2018 include opening a regional warehouse in Salt Lake City, expanding our Fed 40 program to more states, and providing more than 20 million meals to children and families in need. Personally, I’m launching a program to teach entrepreneurship skills to low-income-meal recipients, and I’m excited to be getting that launched soon,” said Green.
If you’re looking to get involved with Feeding Children Everywhere, check out their website – https://www.feedingchildreneverywhere.com/ – in order to sign up to volunteer, make donations, or for other means of helping the organization continue to do good in the state of Florida and far beyond.
