Obesity in America is getting worse, and is particularly severe among low-income populations, underscoring the importance of emphasizing nutrition in charitable food programs. The latest statistics related to obesity, released last week by Trust for America’s Health, show that nine U.S. states had adult obesity rates above 35% in 2018,…
Food Bank News
Food banks today feel pressure to address root causes of hunger like poverty and inequity, while still solving day-to-day food insecurity. So the question of how non-profits should participate in the food justice movement was a pertinent one, when Suzanne Babb of WhyHunger asked it of two keynote panelists at…
It seems pretty obvious that one way to reduce healthcare costs in a community is to get area hospitals and doctors to lower their prices for drugs and services. Actually, a better way would be to reduce food insecurity. Food insecurity accounted for nearly $53 billion of extra healthcare expenditures…
Like many food pantry managers, the ones at Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges in New Jersey wanted their clients to be able to choose their foods, as if in a grocery store. But they also saw a lot of obstacles: they didn’t have a dedicated space for their pantry,…
About a year and a half ago, an anonymous donor handed Three Square Food Bank a windfall and a challenge: $10 million to end senior hunger in and around Las Vegas. Since then, the food bank has revamped its senior hunger program and begun laying the groundwork for systemic change…
Volunteer drivers are proving to be a key ingredient in the success of Feeding America’s MealConnect platform, which is expanding to include another 15 food banks by summer’s end, bringing the total number of food-bank users to 22. Through MealConnect, volunteers are logging in to identify the locations of excess…
About 200 pantries in New York City have shortened wait times and boosted dignity by letting clients reserve times to pick up their food. Now the maker of the service, Plentiful, is seeking to work with food banks across the country to help bring the low-cost reservation system to other…
Like other food banks, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is striving to distribute more produce by making it at least 50% of the total amount of food it delivers. It’s getting closer to this goal, thanks in part to a novel way of pushing produce out to its pantries. Its…
In 1977, participation in the two-year-old Summer Food Service Program reached 2.8 million kids. By 2018 — 41 years later — participation in summer meals had advanced to only 2.9 million. Why the slow growth? It’s not due to a lack of need, given that during the school year, about…