There are plenty of opportunities to go around in Food as Medicine, and celebrity chef Michel Nischan aptly summed them up last week at the Food as Medicine Policy Summit held in Washington D.C. Patients get food to improve their lives; doctors get tools to slow devastating disease; insurance plans get savings, and the food system gets new things to sell. “It’s kind of like we have this multibillion-dollar miracle drug that hasn’t been released yet,” he said.  Nischan has good instincts when it comes to sensing opportunity, having already helped figure out a way to permanently tap USDA fu ..read more

Offering wraparound social services alongside free food has long been viewed as a desirable practice among food banks and pantries. Now, Greater Cleveland Food Bank has raised the bar on how it can be done. Its Community Resource Center, opened earlier this month, provides permanent space to 15 other nonprofit social service agencies in a modern, upscale setting, making it easy for clients to access multiple types of services all in one trip. In addition to getting food from a grocery-store style pantry, clients can also get help with housing, employment, healthcare, legal and other services ..read more

Purchased vs. Donated Food — In response to a request for comment by Food Bank News to its Editorial Advisory Board last month, Brian Greene, President and CEO of Houston Food Bank, supplied these thoughts on the topic of purchased versus donated food. His thoughts offer further perspective on this article, “How Some Food Banks Source Way More Donated Food,” published Nov. 7, 2023. Food insecurity ten years ago was higher than what we have today. Yet food banks were distributing a lot less (4 billion pounds versus more than 6 billion now) and certainly purchasing a lot less despite need being ..read more

Of the ten recommendations that the Bipartisan Policy Center recently issued for advancing Food is Medicine, only one addresses the role of community based organizations (CBOs) that provide food and nutrition (i.e., food banks and pantries). The Food is Medicine movement is gaining prominence as a way to address spiraling health care costs related to poor diet and nutrition, and engaging CBOs in the effort is “crucial for its effectiveness,” the Center said. To that end, its eighth recommendation calls for the sharing of best practices to help CBOs exchange data with health care providers in a ..read more

Food banks are not the only types of hunger relief agencies to pair free food alongside other social services (see article here). Some food pantries are also adding non-food social services like employment help, medical support and financial literacy to their food offerings. They are housing the combined services in newly constructed modern spaces, making it easy for people lacking resources to find all the help they need in one welcoming place.   This article is part of an ongoing series highlighting innovation and best practices at the nation’s food pantries. It’s a “no-wrong-door ..read more

Most food banks are aware that the pantries in their networks are not always available in the most convenient places at the most convenient times for clients. One way Mid-Ohio Food Collective is addressing this issue is by opening a set of Amazon-style food lockers at one of its distribution outlets. The secured, refrigerated lockers let clients order food online and then pick it up at any time of the day or night. As the lockers expand into more locations, Mid-Ohio anticipates they will greatly improve access to food throughout its 20-county service area in Central and Eastern Ohio. Some of t ..read more

Many food bank CEOs bring elements of their prior careers to their current jobs (as Food Bank News wrote about here). The background of Erik Talkin – a food bank CEO who is a former screenwriter and all-around creative person with a Master of Fine Arts – has led to the release of two food-justice books for children, adding to his first, which came out in 2020. Talkin, who heads the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, addresses healthy eating (Jesse and the Snack Food Genie) and local food systems (Frankie versus the Food Phantom) in his two latest books. They round out the first of the trio, whi ..read more

Our Tableau-driven dashboard of the largest 300 food banks in America is interactive and searchable, while offering many different perspectives of the data. Please note: Feeding America food banks are indicated in orange Independent food banks are shown in blue, and Feeding America affiliates are depicted in green. Revenue numbers come from food banks’ most recently filed Form 990s or audited financial statements and predominantly reflect activity from July 2021 through June 2022 or the 2022 calendar year. Exceptions are indicated with a † sign. By introducing the dashboard, we hope to advance ..read more

Welcome to Food Bank News’ 2023 list of America’s largest 300 food banks by revenue. The headline news of our Top 300 Food Banks ranking is that revenue for food banks is down overall, in line with the diminishing impact of Covid on the economy. In fiscal year 2022, the top 300 food banks registered revenue of nearly $16 billion, down from almost $19 billion a year earlier. That $19 billion was a record, reflecting revenue during the throes of Covid, when giving in the form of personal donations, government grants, and donated food were all up. Revenue for a food bank is not the same as revenu ..read more

Greater control is one reason that a handful of food banks are embracing soil-free systems as a way to grow produce for their clients. Greenhouse farming through hydroponics (where the roots grow in water) and aeroponics (where the roots are irrigated with a mist of nutrients) offers a measure of control over pests, the weather, and perhaps most importantly, the level of nutrition food banks can offer their clients year round. “The easiest way for us to influence health is the quality and caliber and volume of the nutritious foods we could supply in our food pantries,” said Robert Ranieri, CEO ..read more