Food banks exist to provide food for free to people who need it. Alameda County Community Food Bank is proving that food banks can also get paid for providing that food. In February, the Calif.-based food bank received its first payment for providing healthy food to a patient on behalf…
Food Bank News
Standards are hardly exciting. But if an organization wants to expand its reach and influence, they’re a necessity. The Food is Medicine Coalition is hoping that the standard it just released around medically tailored meals will get more organizations to adopt high-quality, nutritious meals as a way to treat chronic…
As the former executive chef of a country club in Oklahoma, Jeff Marlow every once in a while would have to order a semi-truckload of ice for every day of a major golf tournament. Because there was no facility in the state large enough to handle such orders, the ice…
Oregon Food Bank’s plans for a new community food center are putting it in the vanguard of hunger relief organizations that are reimagining how food banking can work. Its Ontario Community Food Center, expected to open in late 2026, will be strategically located between a federally qualified healthcare center and…
Manna Food Center’s paper-based system for helping people purchase food at local markets is not very sophisticated, but gets points for innovation. Since the pandemic, Silver Spring, Md.-based Manna has been distributing paper vouchers to hundreds of people monthly, who can use them to purchase culturally relevant food at small…
Food banks are starting to throw around their purchasing power. Because of pressure from food banks, some food manufacturers are starting to remove added salt, sugar and fats from their canned and other goods. A side benefit is that more nutritious food is also ending up on the shelves of…
At Hatch for Hunger, there’s no question whether the chicken or the egg came first. It was definitely the egg. The Indiana-based nonprofit, founded in 2015, is committed to becoming the nation’s most reliable source of animal protein to America’s food banks. In late 2023, it announced the milestone of…
Second Harvest Heartland of Minnesota has had enough. Last year, the nation’s seventh-largest food bank recorded 7.5 million visits to its food pantries, up from 5.5 million the year before, and double the number of 2021. “It’s unsustainable,” said Allison O’Toole, the food bank’s CEO. It’s why the food bank…
One food bank is looking into providing people with gas cards or discounts on car repairs so they can more easily get to food pantries located far away. Another food bank has rolled out compassion training to pantry volunteers to ensure clients don’t feel judged. Another is trying to nail…