Food banks that run or support farms with a cultural mission are reaping more than just crops. At food-bank farms, cultural awareness can take on many forms: The farms may be focused on supporting Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), or helping to create a sense of community among…
Food Bank News
Julie Yurko, the President and CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank, was on vacation reading a book called “Delivering Happiness” about the online shoe seller Zappos when it occurred to her that the concept of online ordering with a focus on customer service did not exist in the charitable food…
Some food banks, recognizing the heavy burdens faced by some LGBTQ people, are taking extra steps to help this population feel welcome at food distributions. The LGBTQ community faces a food insecurity rate of 27%, according to an April report from The Williams Institute, a researcher on gender identity law.…
At Oregon Food Bank, the path toward greater equity is starting from within. The food bank is one of the few and perhaps the only to have created a senior leadership position dedicated to addressing equity. The person who fills that role, Rut Martinez-Alicea, Director of Equity, People & Culture,…
This summer, the government has taken steps to make it easier than ever for kids to participate in summer meals. At the same time, closures of libraries, summer camps and community centers because of the coronavirus have created additional challenges in finding places to distribute the meals. Food banks are…
Underground food distributions, direct financial assistance, and postings on WhatsApp are some of the ways food banks are reaching out to undocumented clients, a population that has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. The efforts are designed to combat the chilling effects of the current administration’s immigration policies,…
When the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, usually held the second Saturday in May, was postponed because of Covid-19, it was the largest food drive in the country to be suspended, but far from the only. The shuttering of the Stamp Out Hunger drive, organized annually by the National Association…
When demand for charitable food ratcheted up in the early stages of the pandemic, San Diego Food Bank responded like many of its peers — with mass distributions aimed at getting food to hundreds or even thousands of people at a time. But the results of those efforts did not…
Hotlines, text services and even navigation apps are among the tools food banks are using to better connect people to their neighborhood pantries during the pandemic. The tools go beyond the basic pantry locators typically found on many websites, and often take advantage of the accessibility mobile technology offers. In…