Nonprofit starts program to give free produce to seniors

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — A nonprofit in Pinellas County is launching a new program designed to deliver fresh produce to seniors in the area.

It’s called ProducePac, and it’s being started by the organization Saving Our Seniors, where every box of produce that’s purchased by a customer will lead to a free box going to a senior citizen.

Kelli Casto is the founder of Saving our Seniors, a nonprofit organization that originally helped folks with finding durable medical equipment.

Being an occupational therapist for 15 years, that was her expertise, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began, many of her clients were having trouble finding good produce.

After some time just recommending places, Casto decided to add on produce delivery to saving our seniors, which has become the main thing for years now.

“We started our farmers market, literally in our Chevy Malibu, and we’ve grown it, you know, from just like 50 spots to having over 180 different locations that we service monthly,” Casto said.

Now, she’s upgraded from the Malibu, using a van to pack products for folks she’s delivering to and currently serving about 14,000 seniors a month.

“Just in the last year or two,” said Casto. “We’ve really expanded.”

But with that growth and the desire to purchase fresh produce from local farmer’s markets, fundraising and finances have gotten tight.

So, Casto’s solution is through ProducePac.

“This is a way for you to get fresh produce and then, in return, feed a senior in our community,” Casto said.

According to Casto, there are two size options for these boxes of produce. Some of the money that a person spends on the box will be used to buy the exact same box to give to a senior citizen for free.

“We’ll be able to have a little bit of money left over that will fund the ability to feed a senior in the community,” Casto said.

Which means a lot to Casto, because she constantly is waking up at three in the morning to go buy these fruits and veggies to give away.

“Being able to just help one person and helping others is key,” she said.

Which is why so many people are lining up in a parking lot in Pinellas Park to get fruits and veggies from Casto, because her goal is to make sure no senior citizen goes hungry.

Casto said she did a soft launch of ProducePac on April 6.

She hopes to double the number of senior citizens she serves in the bay area from 14,000 to 28,000 with the introduction of ProducePac.