Food banks are keeping calm and carrying on amid uncertainty around directives from the new administration that could threaten federal hunger relief programs. The federal government foots the funding for a host of feeding programs, including TEFAP to provide food to food banks; SNAP, the behemoth nationwide nutrition assistance program;…
Posts published in “Strategy”
Every food bank leader brings their own set of experiences and perspectives to the role. That is especially true for Cathy Kanefsky who came on as CEO of Food Bank of Delaware nearly four years ago, while raising twin sons with autism. “I walked into this place with eyes that…
During the pandemic, the Minn.-based hunger relief organization Open Cupboard gained two key insights that helped guide the opening of its newest free-food market. The first was that people don’t want to have to answer a lot of questions to gain access to food. The second was that a community’s…
Food banks are getting increasingly creative about where they put new distribution outlets. In a bid to expand their reach, especially into underserved areas, food banks are making use of farms, libraries, county clerk offices, shopping malls, and even horse racetracks as food distribution points. This attempt to meet people…
Feeding Tampa Bay’s new $60 million facility has all the things a food bank needs to be able to meet increasing demand for food – like excess capacity in its dry warehouse, extra dock doors, and additional flooring around its cooler and freezer for possible expansion. Despite all its preparations…
As the former executive chef of a country club in Oklahoma, Jeff Marlow every once in a while would have to order a semi-truckload of ice for every day of a major golf tournament. Because there was no facility in the state large enough to handle such orders, the ice…
Oregon Food Bank’s plans for a new community food center are putting it in the vanguard of hunger relief organizations that are reimagining how food banking can work. Its Ontario Community Food Center, expected to open in late 2026, will be strategically located between a federally qualified healthcare center and…
Manna Food Center’s paper-based system for helping people purchase food at local markets is not very sophisticated, but gets points for innovation. Since the pandemic, Silver Spring, Md.-based Manna has been distributing paper vouchers to hundreds of people monthly, who can use them to purchase culturally relevant food at small…
Food banks are starting to throw around their purchasing power. Because of pressure from food banks, some food manufacturers are starting to remove added salt, sugar and fats from their canned and other goods. A side benefit is that more nutritious food is also ending up on the shelves of…