Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Mason. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lauren, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Be the Change South Florida is a 501(c)3 nonprofit working to provide basic essentials for families in need in our community. We began 2 years ago rescuing unsold food and using it to create meals for people in need, and through the generous donations of our supporters, have been able to branch out into rescuing and redistributing other necessities like clothing, shoes, baby items, toys, books and household goods. Our goal is to divert these items from landfills and redistribute them to other community members in need. We recently opened a Community Resource Center in Cutler Bay, where we will offer donated gently used items and a food bank stocked with donated fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, and pantry items. Everything is offered completely FREE of charge to anyone in need! We also accept donations of gently used items at 18569 SW 104 Ave. Cutler Bay, FL Monday-Saturday 10am-2pm and are always looking for volunteers to join our team!

Lauren, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We started out during the pandemic. My husband, who is a professional chef, was furloughed from his job at a major cruiseline and I took a leave of absence for work to care for and homeschool our kids when everything shut down. With everyone struggling so much, and with us having so much free time on our hands, we wanted to find a way to give back to the community. We began by donating to local community fridges during the pandemic, where we realized many of the donations that were left at the fridges were not being used and ultimately were going bad and needed to be thrown away. After speaking with one of the hosts of one of the fridges, we learned that the majority of the people who used them were houseless and didn’t have anywhere to cook. She told us to take whatever we could use, so we decided we would make meals out of those donations to put back in the fridge and would continue until our supplies ran out. We were able to make hundreds of meals with the supplies and from there, people started contacting us offering donations and that’s where Be the Change South Florida was born.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The pandemic was a huge pivot for us. We even have an interview done by CBS called Pandemic Pivot, sharing our story about how we started Be the Change South Florida! I worked for the hospital system for 15 years, it was my first real job right after high school. I worked my way up a bit, I was happy where I was, making a decent living, loved all of my co-workers. I had no plans of leaving, I probably would have retired there. And then the world stopped. I had taken a week off for spring break because the kids were going to be out of school. They told us it was looking like it would be an extended spring break of about 2 weeks. Then 2 weeks turned into 2 years. I have some health issues and was high risk for COVID, so do my children, so I just never felt safe going back to work at the hospital. It broke my heart, but I know that I made the right decision. One of my closest friends at work died from COVID during the second wave. My children need me. So we started Be the Change South Florida, wanting to help the community but also very aware of the inherent risk that could pose. We felt that donating meals to the community fridges was the perfect opportunity for us to be able to care for the community by feeding people in need, while also being safe and maintaining social distancing.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

We’re nothing if not resourceful! We started out running our organization in our apartment. We got rid of our dining room set, cleared out our living/ dining room and turned that into our home base. Before we knew it, we had 5 fridges and a deep freezer in our little apartment, most of which were donated! We use our own little SUV to transport thousands of pounds of donated food at a time, almost every day. Our food costs are relatively low because we work using rescued ingredients, but there are some expenses like meals containers, utensils, water bottles, gas, tolls, etc. We began by using our own savings and small donations from friends and supporters. Last year we were able to secure some grant funding and with that money we have been able to rent some space at a church, which houses our community pantry! We also recently opened our Community Resource Center in Cutler Bay to better serve families in need! Fundraising and grant writing is a constant to be able to keep our facilities running and well stocked. Donations are always appreciated and can be made via Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, Gofundme, Give Butter, Instagram, cash or check made out to Be the Change South Florida and all donations are tax deductible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bethechangesouthflorida.org
• Instagram: @bethechangesouthflorida
• Facebook: Be the Change South Florida
• Other: 18569 SW 104 Ave. Cutler Bay, FL