The Greater Chicago Food Depository’s expansion into meal preparation with the addition of a massive new kitchen adds oomph to a growing frontier of service for the nation’s food banks. With its $50-million commitment to preparing meals, announced last month, the Food Depository is sending a strong message that it…
Posts published in “Strategy”
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,…
The Atlanta Community Food Bank is unleashing a monster that’s infiltrating billboards, TVs and radios. The shape-shifting monster can’t be seen, but is “quiet and sneaky and ugly and mean.” Its first name is Hun, its last name is Grr. Yes, the Hunger Monster is invading Atlanta, via a multi-media…
Taking cues from both Trader Joe’s and the food justice movement, Northwest Harvest of Seattle is opening a new food distribution center on June 24 that aims to offer a respectful, welcoming and even fun grocery shopping experience. The name of the outlet — SODO Community Market (standing for Seattle’s…
In Catherine D’Amato’s vision of the future, doctors will ask patients whether they have enough food in their household just as routinely as they inquire about smoking or alcohol consumption. Hunger will increasingly be viewed as a matter of public health, and public and private entities will work together to…
Everybody understands the appeal of a sliced apple over a whole one. For Foodlink of Rochester, NY, that appeal has translated into a way to get kids to eat healthier food, a boost for the local economy, and an annual revenue stream for the food bank of more than $200,000.…
Food banks, which have already risen to the challenge of assisting furloughed federal workers, now face a potentially much bigger shutdown-induced problem: extra demand for food from people facing longer-than-usual gaps between their monthly SNAP payments. When the government resolved a potential disruption in SNAP by issuing February benefits early,…
As the government shutdown grinds on, strategies for serving furloughed employees are top of mind for the nation’s food banks, even as uncertainty mounts over the future of SNAP payments. Many food banks are treating the slowly unfolding crisis of the shutdown much as they would a natural disaster —…