At higher education institutions, innovation often happens beyond the classroom, and that’s especially true when it comes to college food pantries. Because of the mostly young demographic being served, high-tech practices like online ordering and scheduled pickups are practically a given at college pantries. College pantries are also leading the…
Posts published in “Technology”
One food bank is looking into providing people with gas cards or discounts on car repairs so they can more easily get to food pantries located far away. Another food bank has rolled out compassion training to pantry volunteers to ensure clients don’t feel judged. Another is trying to nail…
Like many food pantries, Daily Bread Food Pantry in Danbury, Conn. was recently given the opportunity to apply for a grant to increase its ability to distribute food. With Connecticut Foodshare making sizable grants available, Peter Kent, Executive Director of Daily Bread, figured that plenty of pantries across the state…
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…
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,…