South County Food Pantry

Who Can Visit?

South County Food Pantry serves residents of Venice, Osprey, Laurel, and Nokomis, Florida. The pantry serves families, seniors, individuals experiencing homelessness, and single-parent households. No advance registration is required before your first visit.

How to Register?

To register, bring your driver's license or proof of address to the distribution center at 121 Warfield Avenue, Venice, FL 34285. You'll also need to provide your birthdate and the birthdates of everyone living in your household.

Items Needed for Registration

Bring one of the following when you come for the first time:

• Driver's license or proof of address
• Birthdates for yourself and all members of your household

How Often You Can Visit?

Clients can visit once a month to receive food.

Good to Know

Each visit provides about 10 days' worth of food, worth approximately $45 or more depending on your family size. Because the pantry can get busy, reviewers suggest arriving a little before 9 AM to avoid a long wait. The pantry is open every weekday from 9 AM to noon, and operations tend to fill up before closing time, so earlier is better.

Food & Essentials

The pantry offers a mix of non-perishable, frozen, and fresh items. Typical staples include canned vegetables, diced tomatoes, pork and beans, canned pasta like SpaghettiOs and ravioli, canned tuna, chicken, and salmon, stew and chili, spaghetti sauce, and soup. You'll also find dry pasta, macaroni and cheese, cereal, instant potatoes, crackers, condiments like mayo, ketchup, and mustard, rice, Hamburger Helper, and gravy mix. Fresh produce, frozen meat, eggs, and shelf-stable milk round out the selection. Bakery items such as bread are also distributed when available.

How to Pick Up

Visitors come in person and receive their food based on household size. Volunteers assist each client directly, offering a one-on-one, personal experience. The process is quick and efficient according to multiple reviewers. The amount of food you receive is based on how many people are in your household.

Ways to Give

The pantry welcomes food donations of items that are within their best-by date. You can drop off donations Monday through Friday between 9 AM and noon, and a volunteer will unload them for you. For food drives or large donations, contact Lucy Carlson at lucycarl@icloud.com or scfoodpantry@gmail.com to coordinate.

Monetary donations are also accepted. You can give online, by mail, or through your bank's bill pay. Checks can be mailed to South County Food Pantry, 121 Warfield Avenue, Venice, FL 34285. You can also make a tribute or memorial donation by completing the Tribute form on their website. Questions can be sent to scfoodpantry@gmail.com.

The Louis and Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust offers a matching program that doubles personal donations of $5 to $500 per month (up to $3,000 per year). You can give through FlanzerTrust.org and select South County Food Pantry as your charity.

How to Join the Team?

Volunteers are needed to distribute food, process donations, stock shelves, and check in clients. Most distribution volunteers work one day a month, though you can do more if you'd like. You can also help by organizing food drives in your neighborhood, club, or business. To apply, download and complete the Volunteer Application and drop it off at the pantry or mail it to 121 Warfield Avenue, Venice, FL 34285. You can also review the Volunteer Job Descriptions to see what roles are available. The pantry will contact you within a few weeks of receiving your application.