How Do Food Banks Distribute Food
Although local charities like faith-based missions and soup kitchens sometimes receive donations directly from private citizens or businesses, they often turn to food banks as their primary source for staple, nutritious foods.
Food banks can vary in their distribution methods, but they usually support a list of member organizations and maintain a warehouse of goods available for pick-up or delivery. Food banks typically receive foods in bulk and repackage them for delivery. They have procedures similar to those of most distribution-related businesses, like an accounting department and warehouse and maintenance personnel.
Member organizations are required to meet specific criteria to become eligible to receive food. They must prove that they provide meals or food free of charge at their facilities, maintain an ongoing feeding program, and meet state and federal tax or nonprofit guidelines. Member organizations may include:
- faith-based groups like missions, church pantries, mosques and synagogues
- meal services to the housebound
- job placement facilities
Member organizations don’t pay for food, but they’re usually responsible for some sort of processing or maintenance fee that constitutes a small portion of the cost of the goods they receive. The maintenance fee amount will vary from region to region and from one food bank to another.
Now let’s take a look at some ways you can help a food bank near you.
Searching For A Message: Social Justice
In Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson,9 Johnson is quoted as saying, Where a great proportion of the people are suffered to languish in helpless misery, that country must be ill policed, and wretchedly governed: a decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.9 Gandhi, Churchill, and other thinkers religious and secular, liberal and conservative have offered similar comments. The United States remains the world’s most affluent large nation. Its proportion of poorly nourished and otherwise poor people has been growing. What policies and messages could address this sharp increase in food insecurity?
Assertions that disadvantaged people are exploiting taxpayers rose to the forefront of partisan politics in the 1970s.10 The assertion is a core of the antibig government, antiliberal, and antisocialism platforms. Food, education, welfare, housing, and other programs have been cut or eliminated.
The US government’s lack of economical support contributes to the widening inequality in the nation.11 During a period of economic distress, government and for-profit organization budgets are squeezed and the vulnerability of marginalized people risesas does the stress on small nonprofit organizations that try to fill part of the gap that some government and for-profit donors have left.
What Is The Definition Of Hungry
We dont use the term hungry often in our work, as that seems to better fit the feeling you get between meals. In fact, the US Department of Agriculture made a distinction between hunger and food insecurity in saying,
Hunger is an individual level physiological condition that may result from food insecurity.
US Department of Agriculture
Food insecurity is a household level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. This could mean you dont make enough at your job to afford to meet your nutritional needs or you dont have a car or public transportation to get to the grocery store that may be 10 miles away.
Addressing food insecurity is more than just providing emergency food relief, as the need for food competes with the need for other basic human necessities like medication, housing, utilities and transportation.
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Training And Technical Assistance
We also seek out opportunities to bolster Ohios charitable hunger relief network through funding, training, and technical assistance. Most recently, thanks to the support of funders like the State of Ohio and UnitedHealthcare, we have leveraged more than $1.5 million to support the purchase of refrigerators, freezers, trucks, food storage and food handling equipment, and more.
After 2007 Financial Crisis
Following the financial crisis of 200708, and the lasting inflation in the price of food that began in late 2006, there has been a further increase in the number of individuals requesting help from American and Canadian food banks. By 2012, according to Food Banks Canada, over 850,000 Canadians needed help from a food bank each month. For the United States, Gleaners Indiana Food bank reported in 2012 that there were then 50 million Americans struggling with food insecurity , with the number of individuals seeking help from food banks having increased by 46% since 2005. According to a 2012 UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study, there has been a 40% increase in demand for Californian food banks since 2008, with married couples who both work sometimes requiring the aid of food banks. Dave Krepcho, director of the Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando, has said that college-educated professional couples have begun to turn to food pantries.
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Who Faces Hunger In The United States
Hunger can affect people from all walks of life. Millions of people in America are just one job loss, missed paycheck, or medical emergency away from hunger. But hunger doesn’t affect everyone equally – some groups face like children, seniors, and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color face hunger at much higher rates. Hunger also most often affects our neighbors who live in poverty.
Why Are People Hungry
According to Feeding America, 72% of the households served by its affiliated food banks live at or below 100% of the federal poverty line and have a median annual household income of $9,175. In short, they dont have enough money to consistently put food on the table. While unemployment is certainly a significant factor, 54% of the households Feeding America serves had at least 1 person employed in the past year.
of the households served by its affiliated food banks, have a median annual household income of
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How Many Children In Phoenix Struggle With Hunger
Childhood hunger is particularly heartbreaking as we all want to children to have enough food to live, play and thrive in our families and communities.
The reality is that 1 in 4 children in Arizona struggle with food insecurity.
Angie Rodgers, President & CEO AAFB
In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, more than 200,000 kids may not know where their next meal will come from.
To put this in better perspective, each day more than 650,000 children in Arizona eat free or reduced price meals at school. Last year when teachers advocated for better pay and schools were closed, our food banks stepped in to help feed those children who couldnt get those meals.
Our network could close the gap for 7,000 children so it really illustrates how important schools are to not just educating kids but also making sure they have adequate nutrition to pay attention and learn.
Shocking Facts About Food Banks In America
After the financial crisis of 2007, pandemic 2020 tore the US apart, which led to the loss of jobs and households, illness, and food insecurity. Here are some shocking facts:
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Availability Of Data And Materials
All data sources used in this study are publicly available.
Riediger, Natalie, 2022, Charitable Food Descriptors located in 12 States in America, , University of Manitoba, V1, UNF:6:B8jxycLhATZEObfR8BW2mQ== .
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Access Research Atlas. 2017. . Accessed November 10, 2021.
United States Census Bureau. United States Summary: 2010. Population and Housing Unit Counts. 2012. . Accessed November 11, 2021.
St Louis Area Foodbank
Hunger is a complicated problem, but we can make significant strides towards long-term solutions by addressing it in the classroom and the Capitol as well as at the dinner table. Make a difference by engaging lawmakers and other leaders in the fight against hunger.
Help stock the shelves of a local hunger relief organization by hosting a food drive at your school, office, or organization. From non-perishable food to personal care items, every donation has a real impact for someone in our community in need.
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The Feeding America Network
Feeding America is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs that provides food and services to people each year. Together, we are the nations largest domestic hunger-relief organization. When you contribute to Feeding America, you are joining our efforts in nearly every community in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Just Because I Have A Car Doesnt Mean I Have Enough Money To Buy Food
The economic strain of the coronavirus pandemic has more Americans turning to food banks and charity for help feeding their families.
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LAKESIDE, Calif. This is America: a family crammed in a minivan driving mile after mile across San Diego County, first to one food giveaway and then to another and then to more.
To Marys Donuts, in rustic downtown Lakeside, for day-old chocolate frosted, maple-and-bacon glazed and pastries the size of catchers mitts.
Sixteen miles west to Jewish Family Service for big, fresh mangoes, boxes of hard-boiled eggs, cheese and lamb stew. Another 20 minutes south to the Ocean Discovery Institute for diapers and school supplies. To the Salvation Army for bottled water, oatmeal, a cake. All of it piled high into the back.
Since the coronavirus pandemic upended her life and so many others, Alexis Frost Cazimero has spent most days this way, gathering food for her four children as well as neighbors in need. She pulls her packed silver Volkswagen van alongside the BMWs and Mercedeses as they edge their way through the long, snaking food lines. Where else but America can luxury and poverty get so close together that, in essence, they become one?
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What Can You Do To Help Your Local Food Bank
Food banks and food-related charities need money, food and manpower to operate. You can help by donating money to a national food bank like Feeding America, or give to a regional food bank in your area. Supporting businesses that donate to food banks or conduct regular food drives is another way you can show your support for food related charities.
Around the holidays, news clips of concerned citizens manning the food lines at local soup kitchens or area missions are popular fare, but the fact is that food banks need help all year long. They also need talented people who can run a forklift, keep the accounting books, build a Web site or perform strategic planning tasks. If you have a special skill and are willing to volunteer, your unique contribution will help your local or regional free-food distribution system work more effectively.
If you can’t volunteer your time and expertise, you can still do important work to help a local food bank. If there are no ongoing food drives where you work, worship or play, consider starting one. Some food banks make it easy to institute a food drive program by providing drop-off bins and even project kits with great ideas to get you started.
If you can’t volunteer and don’t have the time to start a food drive, you can still do lots of things to help your food bank help others:
Donate food to your local food bank, too. These items are always in demand:
- shelf-stable milk
- canned vegetables, fruit and tuna
- canned stew, soups
What The Food Pantries Are Seeing
At Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief not-for-profit in the U.S., 40 percent of visitors between March and June 2020 were new, says Katie Fitzgerald, Feeding America’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. That influx into its 200 food banks has contributed to a 60 percent, year-over-year increase in total food bank visitors as of August 2020, she says. That number has stayed steady through the eight months of the pandemic. Wed hoped to see that average number decrease, but its still about 60 percent, Fitzgerald says.
Feeding America estimates that this year, stresses from the pandemic could result in 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, being food insecurelacking reliable access to an adequate amount of affordable, nutritious food.
At the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, Maine, workers have seen new faces and have tried to make them feel welcome. For people coming for the first time, their initial reaction is to apologize, says Kristin Miale, the organizations president. They say, Im sorry Im here, I never thought Id have to be here. The people who volunteer will always respond, You dont need to apologize. It’s not your fault.
For people coming for the first time, their initial reaction is to apologize. They say, Im sorry Im here, I never thought Id have to be here.
President, Good Shepherd Food Bank, Auburn, Maine
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The New Deal And War On Poverty: Lessons Learned
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many Americans saw that chronic and acute hunger were part of the poverty-related pattern we see today. The New Deal began providing services and resources to poor people across the country, and a generation later the war on poverty focused programs on poor people in targeted areas. Food stamps, nutritional supplements in schools, more public housing, and efforts to improve education and provide health care and many other services became policy instruments to address the reality the poor faces. The political consensus was that people without food, shelter, health care, and other services were victims of economic and political circumstances that they had little, if any, control over. The United States, the United Kingdom, and other first world nations decided that they had a social, political, and moral responsibility to provide support for the domestic disadvantaged.
What Are The Choices For Starving Children In Phoenix
Feeding children is a big and important jobone that our food banks take very seriously. Our network feeds about 135,000 people per week through emergency food. But food banks also play a critical role in making sure children are fed during the school year and summer. For the months of June and July, when school is not in session, food banks sponsor locations where kids can get free meals. Often there are fun activities too! For a list of locations, go to .
During the schoolyear, kids can eat breakfast and lunch at school. If parents struggle to payfor meals, they may qualify for free or reduced price meals. Sometimes schoolsalso have backpack programs to help feed children on the weekends. The child isgiven a small bag to take home on Friday with items like peanut butter, self-openingcontainers with fruit and snacks.
Finally, the two largest programs that help feed children are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infants and Children program.
SNAP helps feed nearly 366,000 children each month by providing funds to purchase food in a grocery or convenience store. SNAP can be redeemed at nearly 4,000 locations across the state.
WIC helps children ages 0-5 and pregnant women meet their unique dietary requirements with foods like dairy, fruits and veggies and protein. Again, funds are provided to help purchase these items at retail stores all over the state.
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Conference To Unveil National Strategy On Hunger
During the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, scheduled for Wednesday, officials are expected to unveil new national strategies for medically tailored meals, including a pilot program that will provide food delivery for those with health challenges as part of Medicare Advantage plans.
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The conference’s overall goal is to “end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities.” For months, the Biden administration has hosted listening sessions with hunger and nutrition groups, nonprofits, corporations and federal agencies to find ways to end hunger by 2030.
Fighting hunger: Break down barriers to donating to food banks | Tackle food insecurity by taking local actions
The last such conference, held more than a half-century ago during the Nixon administration, led to the expansion of food stamps and other assistance that dramatically reduced hunger in America.
“This important conference and the commitment to a national strategy on ending hunger and healthier eating will build on the research and knowledge we now have to make America truly a stronger, healthier nation,” Biden said in a statement.
The conference agenda includes discussions about ensuring affordable food for children and families. That has to be the biggest priority now. I’m not discounting the importance of nutritious food, particularly for those with health challenges such as diabetes.
Hunger Crisis: 1 In 5 Americans Turning To Food Banks
A new CR survey reveals a growing food-insecurity problem, with people of color disproportionately affected
Shaunté LeSure had never needed help feeding her family. But shortly after the pandemic struck last spring, the Selma, Ala., native lost her job recruiting health aides for nursing homes. As her income stalled, LeSure realized that she might not be able to get enough food for herself and her elderly father, whom she lives with and cares for.
So, for the first time in her 42 years, she accepted free boxes of meat, dairy products, cheese, fresh fruit, and veggies in a drive-through food-assistance program offered through her church. That box was a lifesaver, LeSure recalls.
LeSure is just one of many Americans who, in the midst of a pandemic that has devastated the health and finances of millions, have had to rely on charity to feed themselves and their families.
A new nationally representative survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults by Consumer Reports finds that about 1 in 5 American grocery shoppers have used a food pantry, food bank, or community food distribution at some point since the pandemic began. What’s more, about half of them said they didnt use these food programs in the year leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.
The crisis is far worse for people of color:
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