A partnership between Southwest Florida businesses and Meals of Hope is making it easy for area residents to help those impacted by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

Customers at the following stores can make a donation of $1 or more at the register to help provide nutritious, balanced meals to Bahamians in need:

• Sunshine Ace Hardware stores in Naples, East Naples, Marco Island, Golden Gate, Bonita Springs, San Carlos Park, Port Charlotte and Largo
• Crowder Bros. Ace Hardware stores in Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch
• Crowder’s Gifts & Gadgets stores in Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch
• Wynn’s Market in Naples
• Wynn’s Catering in Naples

A $1 donation can purchase four meals. The partnership’s initial goal was to provide as many as 250,000 meals through the Meals of Hope collection, but thanks to the community’s generosity, that target was exceeded within the first week that donations were being accepted.

Sunshine Ace, Crowder Bros. Ace and Wynn’s Market also will make a corporate donation of $10,000 to Meals of Hope.

“We were fortunate enough to have dodged Hurricane Dorian here in Southwest Florida, however, others were not as fortunate,” said Michael Wynn, President of Sunshine Ace Hardware. “Hurricane Dorian has devastated the Bahamas and as part of our core value, ‘Care for your Neighbor,’ we have partnered with a local organization, Meals of Hope, to help ensure that healthy meals reach those in desperate need. We set a very ambitious fundraising goal, and to surpass that total within a week speaks volumes about the generosity and caring spirit of our community.”

Meals of Hope is a Naples-based nonprofit organization with a mission of “communities coming together to end hunger.” Meals of Hope hosts food-packing events, operates a food pantry and runs a successful program to provide nutritious meals to children on the weekends and during the summer.

For more information about Meals of Hope, please visit MealsOfHope.org.