Most food banks are aware that the pantries in their networks are not always available in the most convenient places at the most convenient times for clients. One way Mid-Ohio Food Collective is addressing this issue is by opening a set of Amazon-style food lockers at one of its distribution…
Posts published in “Technology”
A hunger relief organization in Des Moines, Iowa, is helping to pioneer a new method of fundraising developed by a tech startup. In April, Eat Greater Des Moines held an online auction of certificates representing food rescue and hunger relief actions it had taken in the recent past. The certificates,…
In 2019, when Food Bank News first reported on Feeding America’s MealConnect, the app was being used by 22 food banks and had helped rescue 1.5 billion pounds of food over five years. Now, virtually all of Feeding America’s 200 food banks are using the app, and it helped rescue…
Food banks are well aware that the extra SNAP benefits given out during the pandemic have now expired in every state. But they may not be aware of a tool that can help them more accurately predict the impact of the benefit’s expiration. The Food Insecurity Index, developed by Conduent…
While cryptocurrency has had a volatile year, it continues to emerge as a valid fundraising tool for food banks able to accept it. “It wasn’t something that we necessarily were looking to get into,” said David Jones, Vice President of Fundraising Operations at Food Bank for New York City. “Our…
Produce-prescription programs may be innovative, but traditionally have operated on a small scale. A Boston-based company wants to change that with a card-based solution that could get millions more people using the prescriptions. The solution from About Fresh taps into existing card processing systems, making it much easier for end-users,…
Early insights from Massachusetts show promising pathways for using Medicaid dollars to treat food and nutrition insecurity, but underscore that technology will be a big challenge. Hunger relief entities in Massachusetts got extra incentive to continue exploring ways to work with the healthcare community in September, when the state’s MassHealth…
When Gary Oppenheimer, Founder and Executive Director of AmpleHarvest.org, set out to expand food access in Native American reservations, he ended up focusing on a few small details that made all the difference. Oppenheimer had built up a large database of more than 8,000 food pantries across the country, as…
People who are new to the charitable food system often experience a fundamental problem when they try to access it – they don’t know where to go for help. A neighborhood might be populated with pantries, but these often operate out of basements or side doors, with little to no…