School backpack programs have been a mainstay of food banking ever since the first one debuted nearly 30 years ago at the Arkansas Rice Depot (now Arkansas Foodbank). The Feeding America network currently supports backpack programs at more than 10,000 schools and institutions, serving more than 54 million meals in…
Posts published in “Strategy”
For a small but growing number of food banks, distributing food is no longer enough. These food banks, including Feeding Tampa Bay and Greater Cleveland Food Bank, are re-orienting their operations to support a range of services that go beyond providing basic hunger relief. The wider scope is evident in…
With rising inflation, supply chain issues, and declining federal aid putting intense pressure on hunger relief organizations, a growing number of them are strategizing about ways to keep the food flowing amidst heightened demand. From large food banks to small pantries, hunger relief experts are reporting a “perfect storm” of…
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank has joined a host of food banks that have dropped fees typically imposed upon pantries. Billed as shipping and handling fees or (more confusingly) as shared maintenance fees, the modest charges help to defray the costs of storing and transporting donated food. Many food banks…
The healthy food pantry that Capital Area Food Bank is helping to run at Children’s National Hospital in D.C. is a good example of the type of evolution happening throughout the nation’s food pantry networks. The pantry, open to young patients with diabetes, aims to eliminate barriers to accessing healthy…
When Greater Vancouver Food Bank decided to do away with traditional food drives, it was perfectly clear about why. It proclaimed on social media and its website that up to 30% of the food it received from food drives was spoiled, damaged or unsafe to eat. In addition, it said,…
A new and dignified way to access food is debuting at Texas schools, under a pilot program being run by Houston Food Bank. The food bank is working to install refrigerated food lockers at local schools, where people will be able to pick up food they’ve ordered online through Feeding…
Better together. It’s a phrase the three leaders of the Orange County Hunger Alliance like to use. Not just a description, it’s their operating principle. The Alliance unites Orange County, California’s three leading hunger relief organizations — Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County; Orange County Food Bank, and Abound…
More food banks are seeking to expand their missions beyond food distribution to include community engagement – and they have the infrastructure to prove it. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Nourishing Hope of Chicago are among the organizations that have recently unveiled space that positions them to more…