MOMentum Moms: Dara Albert

After her own family experienced financial and food insecurity, Dara Albert became determined to rebuild her life and give back to her community by becoming a Food Angel.

What brought you to Naples? We moved from Colorado to Southwest Florida for my health. I live with a neuromuscular disability, and my function and health is improved at a lower altitude with warmer, more consistent weather. We chose Naples specifically for a safe, beautiful area to finish raising our children.

What is your background? I first attended nursing school and worked in the field of mental health before returning to school to pursue an MD. It was during my pre-med courses that my health deteriorated; I had to leave school. My interest in food as medicine was sparked during my educational pursuits.

Tell us about your family. I have been married to Richard, a systems administrator, for 21 years, and we have four children: Nik, who lives in Colorado; Rose, who spent time in AmeriCorps and is now enrolling in college to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector; Anwyn, who just began her freshman year at the American Musical and Dramatics Academy in New York City; and Roan, who will be a junior in high school this fall. My children have been involved in outreach activities and volunteer work all their lives, and all the girls have been deeply involved in Food Angels over the years. My mother- in-law, Evelynne, also lives with us, so we have a multi-generational family home, which we love. We have a little dog named Dutch.

Tell us about your nonprofit. What inspired you to start Food Angels? Nearly 15 years ago, my family went through a real financial crisis. Everything went wrong at once, and we found ourselves with few resources, in a small mountain town in Colorado, uncertain of how we were going to pay our bills and feed our children. It was a tremendously frightening time, and we had to set aside our pride and go to a local food pantry for help. That food pantry gave us not only food, but also hope, kindness, and restored our dignity. Our oldest daughter was a small child at the time, but she was so impressed with the loving strangers who loaded our car up with staples, fresh items, and even treats that she called them “food angels”. I could not have dreamed then of where we would be today. The biggest dream I could dream then was that we’d someday have enough energy and time to volunteer with the food angels.

I am thrilled to be able to say that we did get out of our difficult situation, and thanks to the Community Cupboard of Woodland Park, we never went hungry.

We moved to Naples in 2012, and found another warm, welcoming place in a local church, who supported and encouraged us and helped us start a food pantry in our new home town. Our first distribution effort was in North Naples, serving just eight people that first week, in July 2014, with the produce budget coming out of our personal funds. A year later, we found ourselves serving hundreds of people per month with standing and mobile pantries. Today, the Current Community Center, at 13510 Tamiami Trail #4, is our primary distribution location, serving over 1,200 people each month. Because decreasing food waste is a huge passion of mine, we do a lot of food rescue (acquiring close-to-expiring foods from local grocery stores), keeping about 1,400 pounds of food per month out of the landfills, and stocking our pantry with high quality, healthy foods.

Who does Food Angels serve? Our choice-style Saturday food pantry serves primarily working poor families from north Collier and south Lee counties. More than half of our demographic (57%) is adults 18-64, 37% are children under 18, and 6% are people 65 years and older.

What is something that would surprise us about the community you serve? North Naples is an underserved area, with an eclectic mix of very wealthy individuals and low income, food-insecure individuals. For Collier County, the Living Wage Calculation is $16.04 – meaning that for a household of two adults and two children to be able to make it financially, both adults must work 40 hours at $16.04 (or one adult must earn $26.47 an hour for 40 hours). Since the other necessary bills (rent, utilities, fuel, etc.) are non-negotiable, the impact is often felt in a greatly reduced grocery budget. This is one area in which we can make an impact for our community.

Describe is a typical day at work. Paperwork, fundraising/ applying for grants, picking up, sorting, and shelving food rescue donations, and meeting with clients and volunteers. Saturdays are all about food distribution – empowering our clients to choose healthy, nutritious foods for their families. The most important aspect of our work, for me, is that there is no stratification in our community – clients and volunteers are equal and many folks are both.

What is a typical day for your family? I’m not sure we have a typical day! Our schedules are driven by caregiving for Evelynne, the kids’ school and work schedules, my food pantry and kids’ food program work, and my husband’s work. We are fortunate that he works from home, so there is always someone at home. Our home is our peaceful retreat.

What does your family like to do on the weekends? On Saturdays, we do food rescue and food pantry distribution together. After, we enjoy kayaking, fishing, shelling, nature walks, or board games together. On Sundays, we attend First Christian Church of Naples. In the quiet evenings, my husband and I enjoy walks around our neighborhood, hours of conversation, and watching a show together.

Best parenting advice you’ve ever received? My mom’s maxim was “Good, better, best/ Never let it rest/‘Till your good is better/And your better’s best.”What are your goals for this stage of your life? To continue

the work of finding balance and becoming my best and highest self, so that what I have to offer to others is of the greatest value. I truly desire to live out our organization’s motto: “Nourishing all, with dignity and without exception.”

Photos by Lisette Morales