When Beacon of Hope of Marshall, N.C., first got into Food is Medicine, it started small, providing food to a handful of clients on a weekly basis. Now it is serving nearly 100 clients, and sees the possibility of serving thousands. The organization’s journey into Food is Medicine paints a…
Food Bank News
Food Helpers, a Pa.-based hunger relief organization, has added an extra dimension to its school snack program through an online character known as LittleMoochi. LittleMoochi is a downloadable app that encourages kids to pay attention to the nutritional content of their food. Through the app, kids “adopt” a LittleMoochi character,…
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;…
There has always been an undercurrent of anxiety among undocumented populations seeking food assistance. Food Bank News noted underground food distributions for the undocumented as far back as 2020, when the pandemic pushed the need for assistance to new heights. Now that anxiety has been ratcheted up, as directives from…
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana is expanding a multi-pronged program it developed that aims to lift people out of poverty. A three-year strategic plan, to be initiated this year, will expand the poverty-fighting program into each area of the food bank’s eight-county footprint, one county at a…
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, having raised 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…
Every year, vast quantities of nutritious produce go to waste, even as food insecurity continues to rise. What if this unwanted produce could instead be transformed into shelf-stable meals that nourish food-insecure communities, support regional farmers, and help the planet? Anna Hammond asked this question – and then created an…
Ideally, Food is Medicine initiatives run by food banks would be funded by the government through Medicaid. But with states moving slowly to adopt the waivers that would make that possible, hospitals have become a major source of support for Food is Medicine efforts. “It’s been all about partnerships and…