How this 96-year-old’s garden grew into a food bank feeding thousands in Florida

By Ryan Bergeron, CNN

Bronson, FL (CNN) — At 96 years old, Bill Brown has lived through everything from World War II to the Civil Rights movement to the rise of the internet. But of all the history he’s seen, Brown says it was the Great Depression that might have had the most profound impact on his life.

“People came to help me and my mother and father during the depression, and I always felt I had a debt to pay,” Brown said. “As a little boy I learned how to help people.”

It’s a lesson that has stuck with him. For the last 30 years, Brown – or Mr. Bill, as everyone calls him – has dedicated his life to helping others through the nonprofit he founded, the Children’s Table. The small, community food bank in North Central Florida has served thousands of families over the years.

In June, the organization estimated to have already served more than 1.5 million meals this year alone.

“I think people in this community without Mr. Bill and the Children’s Table would be hungry,” said Stacey Kile, the organization’s operations manager.

Providing much more than food

Brown, a US military veteran, started the organization with his wife, Verna, in Levy County, and they have since expanded their outreach to now serve around 10 counties. These are counties with high poverty rates, little to no public transportation, and many areas that could be considered “food deserts.”

“There’s a convenience store on the corner that’s got soda and potato chips, but not healthy options for your family to live off of,” Kile said.

In these areas the Children’s Table is a lifeline, not only to fresh food but to help families make ends meet. The food bank holds weekly distributions every Monday at its headquarters in Bronson. They ask for a suggested $10 donation, and in return customers receive about $100 to $150 in groceries. The donations are what keep the organization running because, Kile said, they don’t rely on outside funding. But no one is ever turned away if they can’t pay, she said.

“I’m going to fill your car with just as much food if you’re able to give me a $10 donation or if you don’t have it.”

Each week, around 200 cars pass through to pick up food. Some begin arriving more than an hour before the distribution starts, and the line can stretch half a mile down the road.

Cheryl Twombly, of the Florida Department of Children and Families, has known Brown and his wife for more than 30 years and says even families receiving public assistance need some extra help.

“When the Children’s Table began, they filled a niche that didn’t exist out here to serve families in these communities,” Twombly said. “There was no place where people could go to get emergency food.”

The Children’s Table eventually became a movement in the community, one that grew out of a single garden.

Sowing the seeds

The Browns have lived in Bronson for about 35 years. When Bill was in his 60s, he helped tend a vegetable garden at their home. Whenever they had an abundance of produce, they would give any leftover vegetables to nearby families in need.

“I didn’t plan on starting the Children’s Table, it just reached the point that we were serving so many people that I thought it had to have an identity and a name,” Brown said.

As they began serving more communities, the group started incorporating more ways to reach people in remote areas. A big part of their work now includes a bus delivery route that gives people in some of the most rural parts of Florida a chance to access groceries without having to travel to the food bank. They’ll even do the occasional emergency house call.

“Through the years, a family would call late in the evening to say, ‘I’ve got no way to feed my family,’ and they have gone, loaded up boxes of food, and driven it however far they needed to make sure that family has food,” Twombly said.

‘Too busy to lay down and die’

Now nearing 100, Brown doesn’t plan to slow down soon. He believes the future of the Children’s Table is in good hands because the community has rallied to help the cause. There’s a small staff, but the organization relies heavily on volunteers, some of whom first heard about the organization by coming to pick up food themselves.

When Deborah Gooden and her family moved to the Bronson area four years ago, she found the Children’s Table out of necessity.

“We had made the move to the country, and we were in desperate need of food. And this was a great resource,” Gooden says. “Mr. Bill, he’s a ray of sunshine in the darkness.”

She’s now been volunteering with the Children’s Table for four years and has started bringing some of her children along to help. She wants her kids to share Brown’s lifelong belief that neighbors should help neighbors.

“Helping is contagious,” Brown said. “I’m privileged when I can help someone.”

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