CRESTVIEW, Fla., May 14, 2021—The First United Methodist Church will hold a food distribution Saturday at Spanish Trail Park.

Feeding the Gulf Coast is providing 10,000 pounds of food, according to church volunteer coordinator Kristen Sallberg.

Food will be distributed until it is all given away or there are no more recipients in line.

Vehicles should enter the park at the Stillwell Boulevard gate and can begin lining up at 8 a.m., said Sallberg. 

Distribution will begin at approximately 9:30 a.m.

Recipients must present identification showing Florida residency to receive food.

“Evan as the economy gets back to normal and people are returning to work, we know there are still families that need assistance,” said Crestview Mayor J.B. Whitten. “We’re glad to be able to facilitate the First United Methodist Church and Feeding the Gulf Coast helping Crestview families out.”

Most of the churches in the Florida part of the First United Methodist Alabama-West Florida District—which covers Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties—use their church facilities for their distributions, said Sallberg.

“But they are doing fewer pounds of food—usually 5,000 pounds,” she said. “Here in Crestview, we are able to work with the city to get the Spanish Trail Park amphitheater, therefore allowing us to do 10,000 and 15,000 pounds of donations at one time because we have a larger facility.”

Volunteers from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) help church members pack and hand out the food during the FUMC distributions, she said.

“Their guys have been incredible helping us out,” said Sallberg. “This is the church’s fourth Crestview distribution, making a total of 40,000 pounds distributed locally since January. The Crestview mayor, police department, and parks and recreation department employees have all been instrumental in getting this to work.”

Brian Hughes, City of Crestview public information officer