Please Support Budget Amendment on
State Transportation Initiative

                                                                                                                March 27, 2001

The Honorable John McKay
President of the Senate
320 Senate Office Building
Tallahassee, FL 32399

RE: Please Support Budget Amendment on State Transportation Initiative

Dear President McKay:

   Please support the amendment to the Senate budget by Senator Saunders which will provide $220,000 in the Agriculture budget for the Florida Association of Food Banks to obtain and transport multiple tractor-trailer loads of wholesome food throughout all of Florida. These funds are noted on line 1461 of the Senate budget. This amount is half of the budgeted amount in Farm Share, Inc.

   This allocation will allow for food to be transported to 1,542,333 people in Florida. With this investment, 5.25 million pounds of food will be obtained and transported. This food is worth a wholesale value of $8.76 million.

   This Transportation Initiative has been a successful public-private partnership and needs a continued commitment by the Florida legislature. Thank you for your consideration of this amendment.

                                                                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                                                              D. Michael McCarron
                                                                                                              Executive Director

DMMc:cs