A previous edition of this blogpost reported an incorrect amount for the Feeding America grant. The correct amount is reported herein.
For those organizations providing food to families and individuals in need, COVID-19 has created a “perfect storm” of increased demand, declines in donations of food, and disruptions to volunteer programs, distribution methods, and other core aspects of the food bank operating model. Despite these challenges, Feeding America members are innovating every day to overcome these complexities and ensure that people facing hunger have the food they need during this critical time. To support members during this crisis, Feeding America created the COVID-19 Response Fund to pool philanthropic contributions and re-grant them to members for hunger relief efforts. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle was recently awarded such a grant from Feeding America, in the amount of $673,887. These funds will enable the Food Shuttle to increase food purchases, hire additional staff, and make important equipment upgrades—all in efforts to expand programming to meet the rising need due to COVID-19.
The grant will allow Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to step up food purchases to directly support additional Mobile Market distributions. Plans are being developed to hold Mobile Markets in underserved areas with high projected poverty rates, which are only increasing due to the impact of COVID-19. The Feeding America funding is also tailored to specific community dietary needs, such as diabetic boxes and culturally-appropriate items for specific dietary preferences, and will include provisions for the Food Shuttle’s upcoming launch of the food truck, “The Spinning Plate”.
Opportunities for staffing afforded by the grant include the addition of a Sous Chef and a Production Cook to the culinary team, which will increase the staff’s capacity to produce an additional 12,000 meals per week. An Agency Relations Evaluator will also come on board to conduct community surveys and work with community partners to better understand their needs and determine capacity requirements for long-term sustainability. Funding also provides for temporary contract Warehouse Associates who will continue to assist our staff with increased day-to-day activities specifically related to COVID-19 recovery response, such as packing and sorting emergency food boxes. The primary factor creating this need is the uncertainty of when and how the Food Shuttle can bring back its full force of volunteers, in light of the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Equipment costs will include the installation of a high-capacity walk-in cooler at the 14-acre Food Shuttle Farm, which will increase the produce distribution capacity, and a retrofit of the Food Shuttle’s older food truck, the “Mobile Tastiness Machine”—turning it into a mobile prep and serving kitchen and extending the capability and capacity to provide fresh meals into rural, underserved counties.
“This generous show of support from Feeding America is an example of communities helping communities in action. Together we are stronger and can strategically serve where the need is greatest,” said Ron Pringle, President and CEO of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.