SFIM*Gives

SFIM*Gives is an initiative launched by our practice in 2020 as a response to social injustice and to hardships brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to connect our mental healthcare providers, our patients, and friends of our practice with opportunities to support our neighbors, thereby building connections and growing empathy in our wider community of South Florida. In keeping with our practice mission of treating mental health, SFIM*Gives seeks service opportunities to help people specifically in the arenas of supporting health and wellness.

Our focus for Winter 2020 is on the important issue of hunger relief in our community. The inability to meet one’s basic needs, such as adequate food and shelter, creates prolonged negative stress that can lead to mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts. We are supporting hunger relief efforts in our community through volunteering our time and gathering donations. Please join us!

Feeding South Florida

Prior to 2020, levels of people experiencing food insecurity in this country were the lowest they had been in twenty years. Now, progress made in the last 10 years may be reversed as millions of people are newly food insecure due to factors related to the pandemic such as job loss. Nationwide, as many as 50 million people, including 17 million children, may experience food insecurity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Feeding South Florida is the largest food bank in our area, serving 25% of our state's food insecure population in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties. Their organization "rescues" food from retail stores, farmers, manufacturers, companies, and food drives and redistributes it to people in need.

We are offering an open invitation to join our SFIM*Gives volunteer team this winter and help distribute food to people at sites in our county that are served by Feeding South Florida. To find out our next volunteer date and sign up to join us, please call our office at 786-664-7810, or email us at SFIMGives@southfloridaintegrativemed.com. Anyone may also register directly with Feeding South Florida to volunteer or make a donation -- click on their logo on this page to learn more!

Miami Dade College Student Food Pantry

It may be surprising to learn that 36% of college students in our country experience food insecurity—the state of having limited or uncertain access to food—a problem worsened this year by the economic difficulties brought upon our communities by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Miami Dade College has the largest undergraduate enrollment of students in the United States, with over 165,000 students. We invite our patients, friends, and members of our mental health professional community to join us in gathering needed food items for the Student Food Pantry at Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus. We are accepting drop-offs of food donations for the Food Pantry at our office through the end of March 2020. See below for a printable PDF shopping list of items most needed at this time. Or, to make a financial donation directly to MDC Food Pantry, please click on their logo on this page.

Let's help students in our community get the nutrition they need and keep their focus on their studies and educational goals!