- January 28, 2026
"500 Moms" fill snack bins at Bunnell Elementary School. Courtesy photo
Bunnell Elementary School Principal Cari Presley (center), Flagler Schools Families in Transition Liaison Rashawnda Lloyd-Miller (second from right) and BES adminstrators. Courtesy photo
Marie McCormick, founder and lead spoon. Courtesy photo
Personalize 500 Moms spoons. Courtesy photo
"500 Moms" at the Hammock Community Church on Sunday, Jan. 25. Courtesy photo
Screenshot
Marie McCormick’s idea for starting a non-profit to help Flagler County students and families with food insecurity began over lunch.
McCormick’s friend, Bunnell Elementary School teacher, Nina deBodisco, said a lot of kids come to school hungry. Some arrive too late for free breakfast. They don’t bring a snack to school. They may not have had dinner the night before.
McCormick and some friends began supplying deBodisco’s class with snacks. After two years, McCormick said, they realized there was a greater need.
“The stories just seem to get worse and worse,” said McCormick, a Palm Coast nurse practitioner. “We've seen such an increase in our homeless population and in people that are really struggling to make ends meet here.”
So, McCormick and a group of friends have formed a non-profit called 500 Moms. The organization has a three-ponged approach to fight food insecurity among students:
DeBodisco said one of the families she’s delivered to said taco soup was the favorite so far.
“All the ingredients are included,” deBodisco said. “The recipes won’t take a lot of time. They are meals kids like and are not overwhelming for the mother to prepare.”
For now the group is using Bunnell Elementary School as its pilot program, although they would eventually like to expand to other elementary schools in the county. BES is one of five Title 1 schools in Flagler County but has the highest percentage of students in need, said Marcus Sanfilippo, Flagler Schools’ coordinator of special projects and former principal at BES.
“We have a significant population of students that live in poverty,” current BES Principal, Cari Presley said. “That is a requirement of being designated Title 1, and we do have a population of students that are considered to be homeless through the Families in Transition program. So, this will not only serve those students and families, but just families that go through a rough time as well. And I think, for all of us, myself included, growing up, there were seasons where food insecurity was a real reality, and that might not be a permanent condition, but all families may experience that at one time or another. So, it's great to have a resource that can be there for those families in that time of need as it arises.”
Through the 500 Moms’ website, 500moms.com and social media platforms, parents from other state have inquired about adopting their own 500 Moms chapters, but first, McCormick said, they want to make sure the program is sustainable. Thus the reason for the name, 500 Moms.
“We came up with the name because we figured it was going to take an army,” McCormick said. “If we could get 500 moms that would commit to donating $20 a month, we would have a budget that we could help get this program up and started and be sustainable.”
They have a brand, a logo and a slogan: “500 Moms, a spoon, one mission, no hungry kids.”
Everyone who becomes a mom — whether they are a mom, a dad or have no children — will receive a customized wooden spoon with the 500 Moms logo, their name and a number.
The spoon signifies that you are helper, a spoon. A child who is afraid of being stigmatized for being hungry simply has to say, “I need a spoon.”
We want the kids to know if someone says that ‘I'm a spoon,’ that's your safe place, that's your person who's going to be there to help you.
— MARIE MCCORMICK, 500 Moms founder
“We want the kids to know if someone says that ‘I'm a spoon,’ that's your safe place, that's your person who's going to be there to help you,” McCormick said.
Debodisco said her heart was broken when a student once told her she didn’t complete her homework because she was hungry.
“She didn’t have anything to eat since the day before at school,” deBodisco said. “She said, ‘Sorry, Mrs. deBodisco. I didn’t do my homework. When I don’t eat, I can’t think.”
Debodisco’s spoon is hanging in her classroom.
“My hope is we don’t have children that go without a meal at night,” deBodisco said. “I’m super excited about it, and really proud they chose Bunnell Elementary to be the starter school.”
Presley said BES is just getting started in establishing the program school-wide. The school is planning a ribbon cutting this spring for a welcome center and family resource room, she said.
“It's really been the perfect opportunity to get them involved with that and working to provide meals and snacks to families,” Presley said.
McCormick did her research. She reached out to Sanfilippo who got her in contact with Rashawnda Lloyd-Miller, the school district’s Families in Transition liaison.
“Rashawnda really opened our eyes to the issue of homelessness in our school system and kids in unstable home environments and families who are really struggling,” McCormick said.
“I gave them input from the school side and from somebody who works with families who have food insecurities,” Lloyd-Miller said. “Their goal is to spread to all of Flagler.”
When McCormick was establishing 500 Moms, she gathered her friends together and asked who was willing to volunteer. They all raised their hands. There are 12 founder-director moms pictured on the website, including debodisco and Lloyd-Miller.
Presley, BES assistant principals Erin Riley — he is one of the original ‘Moms’ with a numbered spoon — and Jamie Scalia, and guidance counselor Hayley Marino, the school’s FIT liaison.
They have a lawyer working on getting them 501(c)(3) status. They have an Amazon wish list with items they need for the snack bins and breakfast program. Members of the Hammock Community Church have donated money, McCormick said.
“I’m a firm believer that if this is meant to be, God's going to open the doors for us, and he has, so we're trying now to do fundraisers. But our big push now is to try to get people to commit to $20 a month; $20 a month feeds a kid snacks for a month. It can provide three or four Moms Meals that will feed a family of four. So the funds go a long way. Right now we’ve got a few people with spoons and a number, and it's just cool because you're building a community within a community. We're helping people in our neighborhood. It's our neighbors that we're helping.”
To learn more or to become a spoon, go to 500Moms.com
