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.