Gainesville City and Alachua County leaders banded together to fight a common enemy. Officials say there is a growing number of people who suffer from hunger in Alachua County. At the second annual Gainesville-Alachua County Hunger Summit, community leaders and agencies called the problem "serious." County and city officials say less than 63% of the people who are eligible for these programs, don't sign up or don't know they're eligible. Many different agencies offer different types of food programs to the public.
Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan says,"What we're trying to do is get community ownership and a sense of where the problem lies and what the solutions are".
County and city officials say the next step is to put an advisory board in place so they can start to access more agencies on a state and federal level.