The 2022 Year in Review

Lemons are positioned behind a pair of glasses to mimic eyes.
Published by Amber Wright  ~   0

The 2022 Year in Review

Evolving to meet changing needs

By Amber Wright, Marketing Coordinator

 

As 2022 draws to a close and the new year waits just around the corner, it is a great time to look back at our progress. Quarantines and other COVID-19 emergency protocols are coming to a close, but communities still struggle to mitigate the long-term effects of the pandemic. We have remained committed to our mission of alleviating hunger in the community through existing programs while also forming new partnerships to meet the changing needs of the neighbors we serve.

 

The Foodbank Programs

We have continued to support our communities with programs that target specific gaps in services. We send mobile pantries to high-need areas that often do not house pantries of their own. Since January, we have sent out 250 of these mobiles, averaging about 21 a month.

Our weekly, onsite Drive-Thru Produce Pantry has also remained in effect since it was opened. Operations originally began as a disaster relief measure in response to the Memorial Day tornadoes, and later the COVID-19 pandemic. For the fiscal year 2022, we served 650,843 neighbors and distributed more than 15 million pounds of food. Almost 4 million pounds of that was fresh fruit and vegetables, an integral part of a healthy diet often inaccessible to those experiencing hunger.

Another program that has continued to meet gaps in services is our Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which provides monthly shelf-stable food boxes to food-insecure seniors. These boxes contain shelf-stable food tailored to the needs of aging adults. The Foodbank distributed 11,624 of these boxes in fiscal year 2022.

The Good-to-Go Backpack program, which we continue to operate in partnership with some Dayton Public Schools, provides kid-friendly snacks for children in food-insecure households to take home over the weekend. A personalized “love note” with words of encouragement is always included in each of these bags. In the last fiscal year, we provided nearly 33,000 of these backpack bags.

The Foodbank’s Urban Garden continues to thrive. This year it has produced 7,191 pounds of fresh produce, including tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, okra, pears, cucumbers, pumpkins, and more. The compost program has diverted 74,018 pounds of food spoilage from the landfill, cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions and providing rich nutrients for our garden beds. The eliminated carbon footprint is equivalent to 44,952 passenger vehicles driven for one year!

Many of our neighbors found themselves out of work and unable to pay for food or other critical necessities, causing lines at hunger-relief organizations to increase dramatically. We aided our remaining partners in meeting that need by providing food free of charge. We have continued to do that amidst the current year’s record inflation, supply chain issues and rising costs for food and fuel.

As a result of these policy changes, our partner agencies have had the time and support needed to regain their footing. We have slowly begun stepping away from our role as emergency disaster relief by scaling back our Drive-Thru distribution to its normal frequency.

 

Expansions at The Foodbank

Demands on hunger-relief organizations have increased significantly in recent years and The Foodbank has expanded to meet those needs. Our original building was designed to hold a maximum of 15 million pounds of food, but in fiscal year 2021 we distributed more than 17 million pounds. When we started distributing more food than our warehouse was designed to handle, we immediately made plans for building expansions.

In January 2022, the construction of a 6,000-square-foot building expansion was completed. This became our new volunteer area, dedicated to sorting and packing food for programs such as CSFP and Good-to-Go backpacks. It also allowed room to house and sort shelf-stable food donations for distribution.

More recently in August of 2022, we finished the construction of a brand-new freezer and cooler. Approximating 4,700 square feet, this has doubled our storage capacity for fresh foods. This allows us to store and distribute healthier forms of nourishment like meat, dairy, and produce.

Another noteworthy addition is a 30,000 square foot parking lot, granting us a designated space for volunteers to park on the property along with our new team members.

 

New Programs and Partnerships

This year has brought new programs and partnerships as we continue to adapt to life post-COVID-19. The pandemic demonstrated the importance of collaboration when building the social safety net, which we will continue to strive for in years to come. In 2022 we have teamed up with several organizations and introduced new programs to meet evolving needs.

One such partnership is with the well-known food delivery service DoorDash. In March, we teamed up to deliver emergency food boxes and fresh produce to neighbors experiencing transportation as a barrier to food assistance. It has since expanded to deliver CSFP (senior) boxes to program participants who are shut in.

Expanding on our efforts to alleviate childhood hunger, we have partnered with Edison Elementary of the Dayton Public School system, which opened a pantry on campus to aid food-insecure students and their families. Another school has already begun the process to do the same.

We also started working with 10 branches of the Dayton Metro Library in Dayton, Miamisburg, Huber Heights, Vandalia, and Trotwood. These locations are now partners that distribute emergency food boxes to neighbors in need.

Another notable partnership gained this year is with the Keener Farms Charitable Organization (KFCO).  This new charity purchases cattle from local farmers and processes it into ground beef to be distributed to our neighbors. This is particularly helpful during a time of soaring meat prices, which hinders the ability of some of our neighbors to access adequate protein for their diets.

Other efforts have been made to address negative health outcomes often tied to hunger or poor diet. Premier Health has joined Dayton Children’s Hospital in screening their patients for food insecurity. Those that test positive are screened for a monthly food box and directed to our other services. We also partnered with Diabetes Dayton, the only local charity that does outreach for the chronic illness which is also commonly linked with food insecurity.

We have launched new initiatives within our own organization as well.

As treatment centers, halfway houses, and sober living continue to emerge, so does a new kind of need. There has become a pool of people living in residential centers as they continue to seek help for mental health issues, drug/alcohol addiction, and other ailments. It is common for this part of the population to be without transportation, restricted from leaving, or tied up with required classes, rendering them unable to access any of our services when SNAP dollars are not able to stretch far enough. In response, we started a program for case managers to be able to pick up emergency food boxes as needed. This alleviates the strain on case managers and tackles food insecurity among the neighbors they assist.

The Beverly K. Greenehouse in our Urban Garden is a new development that recently had its first anniversary. November 3rd marked one year since the first lettuce seeds were planted. It has been used to grow roughly a dozen varieties of lettuce year-round. To date, we have harvested roughly 30,000 heads of lettuce, which we distributed to our partner agencies and directly to our neighbors in our weekly Drive-Thru.

We have also embraced new Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) transformational initiatives. A two-day Racial Equity Matters workshop by the Racial Equity Institute was provided for all staff. Our goal is for all Foodbank employees to better understand racism in its institutional and structural forms. Moving away from a focus on personal bigotry and bias, this workshop presented a historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism. The Foodbank also retained a highly respected local EDI consultant to assess our organization and help us align our work with our in-house EDI initiatives.

 

Moving Forward

Our organization has adapted to several major challenges within the last few years, including natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently, a challenging economic climate. These all presented unique barriers, which we were able to overcome. The ability to pivot and adapt has allowed us to reshape our services to meet the need and we will continue to do so as long as the need exists.

Moving forward, we plan to take a more holistic approach to address food insecurity. Our focus will expand more on the conditions which cause people to seek food assistance. We have formed new partnerships with organizations outside of the hunger relief network and will strive to keep doing so over the next few years so we can address the issue of poverty in more comprehensive ways.

As always, we remain committed to the pantries, shelters, meal sites, and other local agencies that we partner with. Our original mission of acquiring and distributing food will remain our top priority.

 

Special thanks to our partners, who make our work possible!

The Foodbank, Inc. Partner Agencies

              • AFL-CIO Labor Pantry
              • Abundant Season Pantry
              • Apostolic Lighthouse Church
              • Aspire Church
              • Belmont United Methodist
              • BOGG Ministries
              • Camden FISH
              • Catholic Social Services
              • Central Christian Church
              • Common Good Pantry of Preble County
              • Community Action Mission Program (CAMP)
              • Dakota Center
              • Daybreak
              • Dayton Christian Center
              • Dayton Children’s Medical Center
              • Dayton Cooks!
              • Dayton Metro Library (10 branches)
              • Diabetes Dayton
              • Downtown Dayton Initiative-GESMV
              • Emmanuel Lutheran Church
              • Emmanuel SVDP Conference
              • Evangel Church of God
              • Expressions of Life, Inc.
              • Fairborn FISH
              • Fairview United Methodist Church
              • Family Violence Prevention Center
              • Fellowship Tabernacle
              • First Baptist Church of New Lebanon – Village Pantry
              • First Dawn Food Pantry
              • FISH Southeast
              • FISH Wayne Township
              • Five Rivers Health Centers
              • Food 4 Families
              • Foodbank Mobile Markets
              • Girls on the Run
              • Go Ministries International
              • Good Neighbor House
              • Goodwill Easter Seals – Miracle Clubhouse
              • Greater Galilee Baptist Church
              • Greene County FISH Pantry
              • Greenmont Oak Park Church -Neighbor to Neighbor Pantry
              • Harmony Creek
              • Harris Memorial CME Church
              • Have a Gay Day, Inc.
              • Hearth Community Place
              • Homefull
              • House of Bread
              • Ignited Missions
              • Jamestown UMC
              • Lewisburg Area Outreach
              • Liberty Worship Center Helping Hands
              • Maranatha Worship Center
              • Marketplace Movement Pantry
              • McKinley United Methodist Church – Helen Brinkley Pantry
              • Memorial United Methodist Church – MUM Food Pantry
              • MVHO – Miami Valley Housing Opportunities
              • Miami Valley Meals
              • Miamisburg Helping Hands
              • Carmel
              • Njoy! Njoy!
              • Northeast Churches
              • Northmont FISH
              • North Riverdale Church
              • Northwest Dayton (SVDP)
              • Precious Life Center
              • RCCG Dominion Center
              • Shepherd’s Hand’s – Brookville
              • Shiloh Church UCC
              • South Fairborn Baptist Church – Lifting Up With Love Pantry
              • Spring Valley United Methodist Church
              • John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
              • John’s UCC
              • Mary’s Church – SVDP
              • Paul United Methodist Church
              • Peter RC Church
              • SVDP – DePaul Center
              • SVDP – Gateway
              • SVDP – Safe Haven
              • SVDP – Supportive Housing
              • Storehouse Food Pantry – PFI
              • Thrive Together
              • O.P.S
              • Trinity Lighthouse Church-TLC
              • Triple C Community Outreach
              • United AME Church
              • United Community Brethren
              • Vineyard Christian Fellowship
              • Volunteers of America
              • Wayman AME
              • Wesley Community Center
              • With God’s Grace
              • With God’s Grace – Free Store
              • Xenia Nazarene – Kinsey Food Pantry
              • YMCA of Greater Dayton
              • YWCA of Dayton
              • YWCA Preble County Shelter
              • Zion Baptist Church

Senior Food Boxes help increase food security among older adults

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   2

Senior Food Boxes help increase food security among older adults

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, or CSFP, provides boxes of nutritious food to low-income seniors

By Emily Gallion, Grant & Metrics Manager/Advocacy Manager, and Caitlyn McIntosh, Volunteer/Intake Support

Eating a healthy, well balanced diet is something we all strive to do, especially as we get older and make adjustments to our needs. With aging comes dietary changes, and purchasing diet-specific foods can create a financial burden on seniors already living within a fixed income.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), also known as the Senior Food Box Program, is a United States Department of Agriculture program designed to supplement the health of low-income older adults.

CSFP provides a monthly box of a variety of food, including canned fruits and vegetables, shelf stable milk, canned protein, peanut butter, and cheese. Seniors enrolled in this program receive one box per month free of charge. The USDA selects and purchases the food used in this program, which The Foodbank administers with the oversight of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

Nationwide, the CSFP program serves about 619,000 older adults annually. According to Feeding America, each box costs the USDA $27 and results in a product with an average retail value of $50. The nutritious food available in the box helps prevent health consequences of food insecurity, including hospital stays and nursing home placements.

One 2019 study of CSFP clients in Rhode Island found that 84.9% of those surveyed were found to be food insecure prior to enrolling in the program. After enrolling, overall rates of food insecurity dropped to 64.1%.

The CSFP program is especially important to protect the health of older adults. According to the Food Research Action Center, older adults who experience food insecurity are 19% more likely to have high blood pressure, 57% more likely to have congestive heart failure, 65% more likely to be diabetic, and 66% more likely to have experienced a heart attack.

The Foodbank currently distributes CSFP boxes at 21 different locations across Montgomery and Greene counties. These include apartment complexes, senior living communities, and the drive thru at our warehouse. These distribution sites are selected with accessibility in mind. Placing food directly into cars or distributing directly in living communities makes transporting food much easier.

Last year, The Foodbank distributed over 2.3 million pounds of CSFP food. Over 1,000 seniors were enrolled in the program.

Because CSFP is administered through the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, it is the only Foodbank program that has an application process. To enroll in the program, you must be 60 years of age or older and living at or below 130% of the federal poverty level. To see if you qualify, check your income against the chart below:

2021 CSFP Income Guidelines

Household Size Annual Income Monthly Income Weekly Income
1 $16,744 $1,396 $322
2 $22,646  $1,888  $436
3 $28,548  $2,379 $549
4 $34,450  $2,871 $663
5 $40,352 $3,363 $776
6 $46,254 $3,855  $890 
7 $52,156 $4,347 $1,003
8 $58,058  $4,839  $1,117
For each additional member, add… 5,902 $492 $114

You may fill out an application at our office or have one mailed to you by calling Emily Riley at 937-461-0265 x54.

 

“Food Pharm” program at Dayton Children’s Hospital addresses childhood food insecurity in-clinic

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

“Food Pharm” program at Dayton Children’s Hospital addresses childhood food insecurity in-clinic

The program, a partnership between the hospital and The Foodbank, has served almost 1,000 families in the two years since its launch

By Emily Gallion, Grant & Metrics Manager/Advocacy Manager, and Caitlyn McIntosh, Volunteer/Intake Support

While all households have been impacted in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the worst demands have been placed on families with children.

A study by The Anne E. Casey Foundation detailed the harmful effects of the pandemic on households with children. In September and October 2020, 14% of individuals in households with children reported they sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat. Alarmingly, 34% also reported they had delayed seeking medical care in the previous month.

These figures are a stark reminder that food is a health issue. Prior to the pandemic, families with children in our area already had difficulty accessing enough food to live a healthy, active lifestyle. In 2019, 30,870 children in the Miami Valley were reported food insecure by Feeding America.

Children and adults who experience food insecurity are at higher risk for a host of negative health outcomes. An extensive body of research has demonstrated that children who are food insecure are more likely to be hospitalized, have health concerns such as anemia and malnutrition, and experience mental health issues.

Partnerships between healthcare organizations and community based providers are essential to addressing the intersection between food insecurity and health. One of those partnerships is the Food Pharm program at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Through this program, families with children identified as needing additional food are offered a box of healthy shelf stable food to take home. The Foodbank also supplements the shelf stable food boxes with fresh produce. The contents of the box, which is designed to feed the entire family, were selected by dietitians at Dayton Children’s Hospital. In the two years since its launch, the program has served almost 1,000 families.

Emily Callen, Dayton Children’s Community Food Equity Manager, said that the program has helped Dayton Children’s Hospital to understand the circumstances that lead families to needing food assistance, including natural disasters like the 2019 tornado outbreak, the pandemic, and household financial crises.

“Need arises in so many ways, and everyone is just trying to protect their kids from the realities of their financial struggle and make sure their kids have a meal they enjoy,” Ms. Callen said. “We think our program helps do this for at least a short period of time, while also helping families get connected to longer term resources, so families always have a meal on the table.”

Ms. Callen said she has been able to teach other hospital departments about food insecurity using the program.

“This program allows us to serve the emergency needs of families while they get connected to local food pantries, or other resources like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC),” Ms. Callen said. “By offering these boxes, it is our hope we can relieve the stress that comes along with food insecurity and help families to focus on whatever medical care they need.”

Moving forward, Ms. Callen is administering a survey to better understand the food needs of the families the program serves. The study will evaluate how well the food boxes meet cultural food needs and inform future food selections. Ms. Callen said, “At the end of the day, if people aren’t eating the food we serve in the boxes, we aren’t feeding hungry people.”

As COVID-19 and the new Delta variant continue to impact families in our community, we will continue to partner with local organizations allied in the fight against hunger. We are grateful to work alongside community organizations, including Dayton Children’s Hospital, that are dedicated to addressing the Social Determinants of Health in our area.

 

Where our food goes

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

Where our food goes

We distribute food through agencies and programs of all shapes and sizes

By: Emily Gallion, Grants & Metrics Manager/Advocacy Manager, and Caitlyn McIntosh, SNAP/Outreach Lead

Last fiscal year we distributed close to 18 million pounds of food. The last time we talked to you, we gave you the rundown of where we get our food from – but where in the world does 18 million pounds of food go? 

Partner Agencies

The heart of The Foodbank’s hunger relief programming is the acquisition and distribution of food to our 116 partner agencies. This is the critical difference between a food bank and a food pantry: While a pantry distributes food to individuals, a food bank’s central mission is to distribute food to other organizations. Without the hard work of our agencies, we could not reach the 935,404 individuals we served last fiscal year.

Partner agencies fall into five categories: pantries, meal sites, congregate programs, emergency shelters, and Kids Cafe meal sites.

Food pantries: Also known as grocery programs, food pantries make up the majority of our partner agencies. A pantry is any program that distributes groceries for clients to prepare at home. Last year, we provided food for 96 such organizations. Our pantries vary widely in size and type, from small church pantries to larger nonprofits that serve thousands each month.

Hot meal sites, congregate programs, and emergency shelters: Sometimes referred to as soup kitchens, hot meal sites include any organization that provides free meals to anyone who needs it. Some emergency shelters, which include domestic violence shelters and temporary housing for people in crisis, also receive food from us. Last fiscal year, we served 22 hot meal sites and shelters.

Kids Cafe meal sites: The Foodbank operates a Kids Cafe program that is administered by a variety of community partners, such as after school programs. The Kids Cafe program serves meals to children in the community. Kids Cafe is a registered trademark of Feeding America.

Drive-Thru

The Foodbank operates a Drive Thru Food Pantry to meet the additional needs of our local community. The Drive Thru was originally conceptualized as a way to distribute senior boxes. It has since grown into a service for the greater community.

Visitors to our Drive Thru are entered into our client management system, PantryTrak. Our data, which includes attendance at our direct service programs and partner agencies, is reported on a monthly basis to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Fluctuations in attendance at our programs can act as a barometer to identify changes in regional food insecurity.

To receive food from the Drive Thru, you must bring a drivers license and have an income at or below 200% (or 230% during the COVID-19 pandemic) of the federal poverty limit.

Food distributed at our Drive Thru is intended to supplement any food received at our partner agencies and through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As such, clients may not receive a complete set of groceries, but will receive a variety of food such as fresh produce, frozen meat, and bakery items.

As of December 2020, The Drive Thru is open Monday thru Wednesday from 1pm to 3pm. Hours are subject to change; check this page for more up to date information.

The Foodbank Mobile Farmers Markets

Every month, The Foodbank’s Mobile Farmers Markets deliver fresh food and produce to 15 locations at high risk for food insecurity. These locations are in areas of high poverty that do not have access to a local food pantry. Many of our clients served by the Mobile Farmer’s Markets are seniors who are homebound.

Our Mobile program also operates on a larger scale when we host Mass Distributions throughout the year. Typically we host three a year: one in Montgomery county, one in Greene county, and one in Preble county. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and an increased need for food across the board, we hosted seven mass distributions this year. Stay tuned to our social media pages for our 2021 Mass Distribution schedule. 

Last year, we distributed 1.8 million pounds of food through our Mobile Farmers Market programs.

To view our mobile schedule, visit http://thefoodbankdayton.org/agencies/needfood/.

Senior Boxes

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, better known as the Senior Box Program, is a federally funded program that provides seniors aged 60 and over a monthly box of food items catered to their dietary needs.

The Foodbank distributes just over 1,000 of these boxes each month at 16 different locations, including our on site drive thru.

For a deep dive on senior hunger, check out our blog post. Senior box qualifications and the application can be found here or by calling 937-461-0265 ext. 17.

Good to Go Backpacks

These meal packs are given to food insecure children who qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches during the week, but are at risk of going hungry on weekends.

Students who are enrolled in this program receive a pack of healthy, kid friendly food that is discreetly placed in their backpacks every Friday. School personnel select students to participate based on signs of hunger, such as rushing lunch lines, hoarding food, and talking about not having food at home. 

Each backpack also contains a “love note” with an uplifting personal message and information regarding our emergency food line. This phone line is operated 24 hrs a day for families in need of immediate assistance. Our staff member will refer the caller to a partner agency or Foodbank program near them.

Last year, we had 1,520 students in 30 schools who participated in the program.

Rx Boxes

The Foodbank, in partnership with Dayton Children’s Hospital, created a Food Script Program that allows physicians and staff to write food prescriptions for hospital patient families who have been identified as food insecure. 

The food insecurity screenings are conducted by hospital community health workers, social workers, nurses, and staff. The primary target audience for this project is families with children who may be food insecure but are not already receiving food assistance.

Last year, these Rx Boxes were distributed to 522 households.

If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, check out our overview of resources here. We also frequently post resources and up-to-date food distribution information on our Facebook page.

Closing out a historic fiscal year at The Foodbank

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

Closing out a historic fiscal year at The Foodbank

Amidst the ongoing recovery from the 2019 tornado outbreak and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Foodbank distributed more food than ever before

By: Emily Gallion, Grant and Advocacy Manager, and Caitlyn McIntosh, Development Manager

Despite an unusually challenging year, The Foodbank was able to distribute 17,884,642 pounds of food in our 2020 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

Over one third of the food distributed by weight was fresh produce. With it, we were able to provide food to 116 partner agencies in our three-county network and serve a total of 935,404 people.

It’s hard to believe over a year has passed since the 2019 Memorial Day tornado outbreak. The storm left over $1 billion in property damage and at least 1,800 without homes. While the disaster struck a month before the beginning of the fiscal year, recovery has been slow, and the destruction is still visible in many parts of our community. Read about our tornado relief response here.

It’s even harder to believe that just one year after the storm, our community would be living through a mass shooting and a pandemic. It has been a challenging year,  but we are honored to have been able to serve our community through it.

Here are some highlights from the past year at The Foodbank:

Drive Thru fills critical gaps in COVID-19 response

A line of cars forms outside The Foodbank’s Drive Thru Food Pantry on a rainy distribution day.

Our on-site drive thru was built in 2018 as an accessible distribution site for our Senior Box Program. While we saw potential in the drive-thru to expand our distribution capabilities, we didn’t know just how critical it would be in our disaster relief efforts.

Early March was an extremely difficult time for us at The Foodbank. The spread of COVID-19 and mandatory social distancing measures forced us to rethink nearly every aspect of our operations.

We typically host Mobile Farmers Markets at 27 different sites each month, but the high attendance at these events makes social distancing difficult to enforce. Sadly, we had to suspend these distributions for nearly three months.

Additionally, we could no longer visit our 18 Senior Box distribution sites due to safety precautions at the living facilities. With all of these operations canceled, we were left with one way to get food out of the building and onto the tables of our community — our on-site Drive Thru Food Pantry.

Immediately, we saw attendance rates spike to levels we have never seen before. Before the pandemic began, our Drive Thru was averaging about 200-300 households per distribution. That number skyrocketed to 600-700 households per day, peaking at a record breaking 750 households on April 22nd.

This was an incredible year for the Drive Thru, which served a total of 37,249 households and distributed 3,467,113 pounds of food. It is an essential service that aids in our confidence that Miami Valley residents can always turn to us no matter the circumstance.

 

Mobile Farmers Markets distribute record-high number of meals despite COVID-related cancellations

Like nearly all aspects of our operations, our Mobile Farmers Market program was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We were forced to temporarily suspend our Mobile Farmers Markets March 12 to limit the spread of the virus.

After developing a plan to enforce social distancing, which included additional staffing to keep our families six feet apart, we were able to reopen on a limited basis starting in June.

After carefully evaluating each Mobile site to ensure our ability to enforce social distancing and reach all areas in our territory, we selected 11 sites to reopen first. We are continuing to evaluate the course of the pandemic as well as food insecurity projections in our area to determine our next courses of action.

While our almost three-month closure certainly affected our metrics, this has still been a very successful year for our Mobile Farmers Market program. Through this program alone, we were able to distribute a total of 1,848,453.7 pounds of food to families in our three-county service area — an increase of 73,990.5 pounds from the previous year!

We would like to thank our generous donors and volunteers for supporting our work in the past year. Last year, a total of 5,414 volunteers spent 13,600 hours with us. We couldn’t do it without your help! Follow our social media accounts @thefoodbankinc for future announcements on volunteer opportunities. While we are still not allowing volunteers on-site due to the severity of the pandemic, we hope to see you all soon.

It has been a record breaking year here at The Foodbank and we are hopeful for what the future holds. This year has challenged us in ways we never thought possible and proven our true resiliency as a team and a community. If you want to read more about our service area, hunger statistics, or our economic impact, visit our Tri-County Impact Statement on our website.

COVID-19 Update: Continuing our relief efforts in a still-uncertain economy

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   1

 

COVID-19 Update: Continuing our relief efforts in a still-uncertain economy

How we’re coping with long lines and evolving challenges at The Foodbank

By: Caitlyn McIntosh, Development Manager and Emily Gallion, Grant and Advocacy Manager

In our March 20 blog post about COVID-19, posted two days before Governor Mike Dewine’s initial stay-at-home order, we discussed the safety measures we implemented and speculated on the impact of the pandemic on families in our lines. Two months and 3.7 million pounds of food later, it appears we too underestimated the negative impact this virus would have on the food system, our partner agencies, and the families we serve..

If you’ve been following the news, you’ve seen the abrupt and drastic increase in demand we’ve seen here at The Foodbank. Although we knew the COVID-19 crisis would devastate communities in our lines, we could never have prepared for the extent to which it would impact our own operations.

While much has changed since our last blog post, many measures remain in place. We are still not accepting volunteers from the public or food drive donations. While this was an incredibly difficult decision to make, we feel an enormous amount of responsibility because we are at the heart of the charitable food network in three counties. We cannot risk an outbreak at our headquarters.

One thing that has not changed has been the overwhelming demand we are seeing at our distributions. Traffic at our on-site drive thru has reached an all-time high. Last summer, attendance at our Drive Thru set a new record the month after the 2019 Memorial Day tornado outbreak with 3,515 households served. Last month, we served almost double that.

In the month of April, we served a total of 6,912 households — 19,498 individuals — at our on-site Drive Thru food pantry.

The most dramatic increase we have seen, however, is in the number of individuals accessing food assistance for the first time. Through the month of March, the percent of new households at our Drive Thru increased from less than 10 percent to a high of 68 percent.

To ensure that everyone was able to be served, we made the difficult decision to limit the number of times a household could visit the Drive Thru to once per month. We have never had to limit visits to our Drive Thru in this manner before.

At that time, we were seeing demand steadily increasing at the same time as many of our main sources of food procurement, such as food drives and grocery store donations, dwindled or were stopped completely. Fortunately, we were able to lift that limit this month and are now able to serve people as often as they need to feed their families three healthy meals a day.

While Dayton is our home base, we serve Greene and Preble counties as well. To ensure that everyone in our area is able to access food, we have been organizing mass food distributions in those counties so that individuals who are unable to make it to Dayton can still get the food they need.

We have already held mass distributions in Preble County at Henny Penny and in Greene County at the Wright State Nutter Center. At our Preble County distribution, we served 709 households, about 400 more than we usually see at our annual Preble County mass distribution. At our Greene County distribution, we served 1,381 households, the largest food distribution we have held in our 40 years of service.

 

Mobile Pantries

When concerns of COVID-19 first started arising, we made the difficult decision to suspend our mobile pantries until further notice. This was extremely hard for us as the mobiles are critical in providing food directly to communities most in need without access to a local food pantry.

As of June 1, we are excited to announce that we are bringing our mobile pantries back! In order to follow Stay Safe Ohio guidelines, we have set some new rules regarding mobiles.

Clients are asked to wear a mask if they have one and stay six feet apart when visiting our locations in order to stay within social distancing guidelines. Additionally, we are limiting pick ups to two households per person. We always suggest bringing your own cart or additional means of carrying potentially heavy items.

The schedule is being released on a month-by-month basis to ensure proper safety precautions are able to be put in place. You can find the schedule at thefoodbankdayton.org/needfood as well as our social media pages.

 

Partner Agencies

While we have received a lot of attention for our Drive Thru and Mass Distributions, our primary mission remains the acquisition and distribution of food to our partner agencies. We have been offering expanded Drive Thru hours and mass distributions to supplement the services of our partner agencies, many of which have been forced to close due to the COVID-19 crisis.

At present, only 75 of our 110 partner agencies are still open. The others have been forced to close due to a variety of reasons, such as the closure of their parent organization or concerns for their own volunteers. Because so many of our pantries, hot meal sites, and other partners rely on volunteers who are advanced in age, many of them have had to make the difficult decision to close down operations to protect their own.

Despite these closures, our network is still serving an extremely high number of clients. In April, we served a total of 94,651 individuals. With agency closures taken into consideration, our agencies that are open are serving over twice as many individuals as this time last year.

Agencies that remain open are serving an average of 1,262 individuals a month, over twice as many as this time last year.

The uptick in demand coincides with a rise in unemployment as businesses close or pare down operations to prevent the spread of illness and comply with social distancing measures. Over the course of the pandemic, the number of applications for unemployment has reached 10% of the population of Ohio. Local Department of Jobs and Family Services offices have been completely overwhelmed, leading to wait periods in which furloughed and laid off workers are not able to receive benefits.

We’ve known for a long time how many American workers are living precariously close to poverty. According to AARP, over half of US households do not have an emergency savings account. While workers experiencing this delay between their loss of income and unemployment benefits will be eligible for retroactive pay,

 

Up next

The Foodbank recently announced its participation in the USDA Farmers to Families box program. We are excited to participate in this program, which will dramatically increase the amount of food we are able to provide to individuals in our service area.

Farmers to Families is a food box program announced April 19 as part of the Coronavirus Farm Assistance program. Through this program, the USDA will purchase pre packaged boxes of fresh produce, dairy, and meat products for direct distribution to households in our community.

Through the Farmers to Families Food Box program, the USDA will authorize purchases of up to $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy, and meat.

For our part, we will be receiving and distributing 30,000 boxes of food every month through our direct service programs and partner agencies. In total, this will amount to 750,000 pounds of food, or about 625,000 additional meals to people affected by the pandemic.

 

Where in the world is The Foodbank, Inc.?

We have been incredibly lucky during this time to receive national recognition from several news sources.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show: https://www.ellentube.com/video/allison-janney-goes-digging-in-drawer-dash.html?fbclid=IwAR1nl7iVicJJ9azy5eN6QT8fWwFC24u65JHVuL9f8sAIp6SaP7kxm_teeGY

The Washington Post: “The next threat: Hunger in America”

TIME: “’It’s a Bucket Brigade on a 5-Alarm Fire.’ Food Banks Struggle to Keep Up With Skyrocketing Demand”

ABC News Nightline: “Inside 2 massive food banks feeding families affected by COVID-19”

Dayton Daily News: “Coronavirus: Thousands show up for Greene County food distribution”

The Foodbank to Unveil New Composter

Published by Caitlyn McIntosh  ~   0

The Foodbank to Unveil New Food Waste Project on 11/20/19

 

The Foodbank, Inc. invites the media to an unveiling event on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 2 pm in the Urban Garden located at The Foodbank.

The Foodbank, Inc. is committed to reducing food waste and lowering carbon footprint, and this new technology is a large step in that direction. It will also be used as an educational tool for the community on how to dispose of food waste and repurposing it in an eco-friendly manner. This project was made possible through funding from the Ohio EPA, The Kroger Foundation. Tom Greene, President and CEO of Greene Tool Systems, will provide photography of the unveiling.

 

Speakers: Michelle L. Riley, The Foodbank, Inc.

Angel Arroyo-Rodriguez, Ohio EPA

Van Calvez, Green Mountain Technologies

 

Where:                                     The Foodbank, Inc., in the fenced-in garden area

56 Armor Place

Dayton, OH 45417

 

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The Foodbank relieves hunger in the community through a network of partner agencies by acquiring and distributing food. Food and related supplies are distributed to a network of pantries, community kitchens, shelters and other charitable programs, all of which support the health and development of food insecure individuals in the Miami Valley. Through our over 100 member agencies, The Foodbank distributed over 16 million pounds of food last year. There are 116,720 food insecure individuals in our area, 33,770 of which are children.