The announcement last week that the USDA would continue to support food banks by purchasing massive amounts of produce, meat and dairy from the nation’s farmers was welcome relief to food bank CEOs, though they still expect a difficult 2021. The $1.5 billion extension of the Farmers to Families Food…
Posts published in “CEO Interviews”
On March 17 — only one day after the governor ordered all bars and restaurants temporarily closed in Minnesota due to the pandemic — Second Harvest Heartland launched Minnesota Central Kitchen, its ambitious effort to keep local restaurants in business by tapping their kitchens, food and employees to feed the…
The most crucial ingredient in Our Neighbors Table’s plan to bring food security to its region by 2029 is not food — it’s community involvement via an advisory group of local organizations. Its Food Security Advisory Group, which includes local town officials, health care providers, schools and councils on aging,…
As the biggest news story of 2020, Covid-19 played a role in the conversation at Food Bank News’ CEO roundtable discussion, held online in early November. But more prominent were perennial questions about ways in which the problem of hunger should be framed and solved. There were unexpectedly positive outcomes…
As a relatively new organization — only ten years old — Feeding Children Everywhere has the benefit of not being tied to legacy notions of how things are done. So its embrace of a virtual food bank model in response to Covid-19 has been seamless. Under its virtual model, the…
With about one-third of the food pantries across Toronto having closed, Daily Bread Food Bank has begun distributing food from public libraries, taking advantage of their book-processing center, trucks and temporarily out-of-work librarians. Four libraries have begun distributing food and a total of nine are expected to, thanks to partnerships…
After 15 years at the aid organization CARE, where he confronted conflict, earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters, Thomas Reynolds, the CEO of Northwest Harvest in Seattle, understood the “absolute” importance of being prepared for the Covid-19 virus. So early on, he did what you do in these situations and devised…
Until a few years ago, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana was like most food banks in its reluctance to say no to any and all offers of food. So it might send a truck to a third-grade classroom 20 miles away to collect half a dozen bags of shelf-stable groceries,…
Community Solidarity is not a food bank, though it does the work of one. It’s more like a radical food rescuer, popping up in flash-mob fashion around Long Island and Brooklyn atop a loose infrastructure of volunteers, folding tables and produce. There is no warehouse, no fleet of trucks, and…