Less than a year after Hurricane Helene devastated portions of its service area in September 2024, MANNA FoodBank initiated a three-pronged approach to revitalizing its local food systems – supporting area growers, strengthening partner capacity, and – in a more unusual move – building community hubs. Its Essential Foods Program…
Food Bank News
The idea that people have a “right to food” in the U.S. is starting to gain some footing. Perhaps the biggest sign is a resolution passed last month in New Jersey declaring that residents in the state have a fundamental right to adequate food. The ruling comes after nine states…
Not many food banks produce detailed reports about the level of food insecurity throughout their service areas, but the ones that do cite numerous benefits. With the USDA ceasing publication of its annual household food security report, the question of whether more food banks should fill the information gap by…
Vermont Foodbank is getting more strategic in how it grants funds to partner agencies. During the Covid years, it was like many food banks in channeling money to pantries for a broad range of capacity-building projects to help meet increased demand. Now it is getting more focused in its competitive…
Julie Yurko would like to warn you in advance. She is going to swear. She is going to swear because she really means it and she wants you to feel it. Here goes: Yurko is building a “kick-ass charitable food system.” A lot goes into that goal, starting with the…
Like many hunger relief organizations, God’s Love We Deliver recently put language at the top of its website to help individuals navigate the new SNAP restrictions. It also highlighted a less-common avenue of help – food assistance through Medicaid. Individuals can now go to a page on GLWD’s site where…
Houston Food Bank is intent on getting out the vote. In what appears to be a first, the nation’s third-largest food bank is building a network of “civic hubs,” aimed at educating people about the power they have to direct government activities via their right to vote. The initiative advances…
Students who succeeded in securing a total of $1 million in the Michigan state budget to address college food insecurity achieved their goal in part by placing their fellow students’ stories at the center of their campaign. In 2024, Michigan State University’s Spartan Food Security Council secured a $500,000 line…
Our CEO Roundtable this year took place literally hours after the government shutdown that suspended SNAP payments to millions of Americans had ended. But relief was not one of the emotions expressed by the 12 food bank leaders on the call. Every November, members of our Editorial Advisory Board gather…