Epic-Cure's Urgent Fight to Secure the Future of Food Relief

The Story of the Palatka Warehouse

In 2020, during the height of Covid, Feeding Northeast Florida received a grant to pay restaurants to keep their kitchen staff on payroll to create meals for home deliveries to members of the most vulnerable populations – seniors and children. It was a great idea that helped a lot of people, and that got Epic-Cure ® connected to Ed Killebrew, a lifelong resident and civic minded leader in Putnam County. Epic-Cure ® used its refrigerated truck to transport the Feeding Northeast Florida meals to Palatka, and Mr. Killebrew organized the volunteers to deliver 6,925 meals to people in need over four months.

How did the warehouse in Palatka come to be? Epic-Cure ® received a single $20,000 donation from an individual in April of 2020, and we decided to see if we could succeed in expanding to Putnam County after becoming acquainted with the great need there. Mr. Killebrew arranged a meeting with the owner of the building we now occupy. As the conversation progressed, the owner asked what we were thinking of paying in rent. We admitted that our budget was only $2,000 a month (for a 15,000 square foot warehouse!).

The landlord surprised us and said he would give it to us for $2,000 per month for 6 months. Thereafter, the rent would increase to the market rate of $6,250 per month. We signed the lease and took occupancy in May of 2020. Epic-Cure ® took the gamble: we poured our hearts and souls into making it work.

The six month mark arrived, and we found ourselves at a stalemate. We could not get the warehouse to pass inspection without a new roof. The landlord was looking at a $70,000 expense for a tenant that relied on donations and was reluctant to spend the money. That is Epic-Cure ® encapsulated. We agreed to keep the rent at $2,000 a month until the roof was replaced. That work was finally completed in November of 2021. The delay was a blessing in disguise as we needed that time to build our donor base.

On May 22, 2022, Epic-Cure ® opened its warehouse for grocery store style shopping (prior to that we did massive drive through distributions every Friday in the parking lot of the building).

We made it work. Regardless of the outcome of the current predicament with the early termination at that facility (we are eternal optimists with a group of the best volunteers that ever existed, all with a willingness to roll up our sleeves and get the job done), Epic-Cure ® has positively impacted the lives of many. We are all willing and able to get the job done. We just need some help to continue our efforts.

And a final note is worth remarking. Since May of 2020 we have distributed $29 million worth of food (wholesale) in Putnam County.

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