Especially during times of high inflation, seniors depend on access to nutritious food from food banks and food pantries but transportation and other barriers often stop them from getting the food they need. Food insecurity remains high among seniors, and although food assistance programs exist, seniors often face barriers to…
Food Bank News
Aristotle Mannan’s job as a community health worker in Boston for two years led him to two observations and ultimately, a new model of providing food pantry software that helps to connect food pantry clients with healthcare services. His first observation was the extensive use of inefficient pen-and-paper record keeping…
Most food pantries are familiar with the benefits of client choice: By offering patrons the option of what foods they would like, rather than handing over a prepackaged box, pantries reduce waste, improve service quality and — most importantly — preserve dignity by letting clients decide what they want to…
With the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health looming, food bankers have identified improved access to healthy food as a high-priority outcome, though they are only cautiously optimistic that this and other goals can be achieved. The White House conference, scheduled for sometime in September, comes more than…
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 idea of rescuing surplus produce from farms and bringing it to food banks is not a new one, but it usually happens on a local level. The Farmlink Project is taking the practice national. Started in 2020 by a group of college students, Farmlink has activated a nationwide network…
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…
Feeding America last month published its twelfth annual Map the Meal Gap report, revealing the entrenched nature of food insecurity in the nation’s hardest-hit counties, as well as large disparities between racial and ethnic groups when it comes to food insecurity. Breaking down food insecurity levels by county and then…
Food banks have long depended on private donations from individuals to function, and the size of those donations followed trends that were consistent for years – until Covid-19 happened. The pandemic has elevated cash donations to a new, much higher level. RKD Group, a fundraising and marketing provider, analyzed donations…