In February 2024, Alameda County Community Food Bank became the first food bank in California to receive an insurance reimbursement from the state for providing healthy groceries to a patient. Since then, it has grown the number of patients in its Food is Medicine program to about 130 a week.…
Food Bank News
Tarrant Area Food Bank’s pantry network had grown from less than 400 agencies to 665 when President and CEO Julie Butner decided to take a closer look at how food was being distributed throughout the food bank’s 13-county service area in North Texas. Dozens of outlets had been added during…
H.R. 1, the massive budget package passed into law last summer, brought a lot of financial hardship to food banks in the form of funding cuts. But it also preserved a popular federal tax credit program designed to help community institutions raise needed funds. Houston Food Bank is among the…
For food banks struggling to get resources, the idea of being able to earn some revenue – rather than always rely on government or charitable support – can be attractive. In Canada, Toronto-based North York Harvest Food Bank is championing this approach, generating between $3 million and $4 million a…
Most of the time when it comes to Food is Medicine, a funder of some sort steps up to help food banks pursue their goals. Food banks have tapped foundations, healthcare providers, insurers and government entities in their quest to provide nutritious food to populations suffering from chronic diet-related diseases.…
Two years ago, Feeding America announced an initiative to recover more food from farmers, manufacturers, and especially retailers. As that initiative continues to unfold, food banks have gotten more strategic about how they go about rescuing food from retail grocers. Conversations during and after Fresh Connect Central’s Power of Partnerships…
St. Mary’s Food Bank in Arizona may be shy of running the nation’s largest home delivery program, but it gets credit for having an ongoing and growing commitment to home delivery that began well before most food banks even considered offering the service. Way before Covid, which is the time…
A company called FreeWill offers a novel pathway for food banks looking to increase giving from estate planning. Noting that 70% of adults in the U.S. do not have a will, FreeWill makes it easy for people to write a no-cost will using online tools. It also makes it easy…
Slowly but surely, artificial intelligence is starting to show up in food bank operations. The use cases are all over the map. Some food banks are focused on improving personal productivity, while others are addressing food bank-wide efficiency. Some are seeking to upgrade applications used internally, while others are deploying…