 | |
| Formation | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Founder | John van Hengel |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Headquarters | 35 East Wacker, Chicago, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 41°53′11″N 87°37′36″W |
Region served
| United States |
Membership
| 200 food banks |
CEO
| Claire Babineaux-Fontenot |
Main organ
| Board of directors |
| Website | www |
Feeding America is a United States–based nonprofit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies. Forbes ranks it as the second largest U.S. charity by revenue. Feeding America was known as America's Second Harvest until August 31, 2008.
History
In the late 1960s, when John van Hengel, a retired businessman in Phoenix, Arizona, began volunteering at a local soup kitchen,
he began soliciting food donations for the kitchen. He ended up with
far more food than the kitchen could use in its operations. Around this
time, he spoke with one of the clients, who told him that she regularly
fed her family with discarded items from the grocery store's garbage
bins. She told him that the food quality was fine, but that there
should be a place where unwanted food could be stored and later accessed
by people who needed it, similar to how banks store money.
Van Hengel began to actively solicit this unwanted food from
grocery stores, local gardens, and nearby produce farms. His effort led
to the creation of St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, the nation's first food bank.
In 1975, St. Mary's was given a federal grant to assist in
developing food banks across the nation. This effort was formally
incorporated into a separate non-profit organization in 1976.
In 2001, America's Second Harvest merged with Foodchain, which was the nation's largest food-rescue organization at that time.
In 2005, Feeding America began using an internal market with an
artificial currency called "shares" to more rationally allocate food.
Currency is allocated based on the need, and then individual banks bid
on which foods they want the most, based on local knowledge and ability
to transport and store the food offered.
Negative prices are possible, so banks could earn shares by picking up
undesirable food. The previous centrally planned system had penalized
banks for refusing any food offered, even if it was the wrong type to
meet their needs, and this resulted in misallocations ("sending potatoes
to Idaho"), food rotted away in places that didn't need it, and the
wrong types of food being delivered (e.g. not matching hot dogs with hot
dog buns).
In May 2007, it was featured on American Idol, named as a charity in the Idol Gives Back charity program.
In September 2008, the organization name was changed to Feeding America.
In August 2009, Columbia Records announced that all U.S. royalties from Bob Dylan's album Christmas in the Heart would be donated to Feeding America, in perpetuity.
There has been a rise in the numbers suffering from hunger since the financial crisis of 2007–2008. In 2013, the USDA reported that about 49 million U.S. Americans were facing the condition, about one in six of the population. In September, they launched Hunger Action Month, with events planned all over the nation, to raise awareness and get more U.S. Americans involved in helping out.
In 2015, Feeding America saved more than 2 billion pounds (~907 metric tons) of food that would have been thrown away otherwise, but could instead be distributed to hungry families.
In 2018, the USDA announced that food insecurity had been steadily declining since the 2009 recession ended.
In 2020, Feeding America said that there are about 11 million children
suffering from hunger in the United States. Children, along with
families and seniors having trouble making ends meet, are suffering the
most.
Leadership
Bob Aiken was its first CEO. Matt Knott was its interim-CEO in 2015. On October 1, 2015, Diana Aviv became its second CEO.
On October 1, 2018, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot became its third CEO.
Network programs
Feeding
America works to educate the general public and keep them informed
about hunger in America. The national office produces educational and
research papers that spotlight aspects of hunger and provides
information on hunger, poverty and the programs that serve vulnerable
Americans. Feeding America's public policy staff works with legislators,
conducting research, testifying at hearings and advocating for changes
in public attitudes and laws that support Feeding America's network and
those the organization serves.
In 2017, Feeding America announced a plan to increase the
nutritional value of food from food banks. By 2023, the group plans to
offer more fruits and vegetables, and provide training so they can
distribute more produce, whole grains and lean proteins.
There are more than 200 Feeding America food banks, each of which
is "notable" for the work it does in its own area. A complete and
current, list is available at the Feeding America web site. These are
just a few of the banks in the network:
- Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, California
- Arkansas Foodbank Network in Little Rock, Arkansas
- Atlanta Community Food Bank in metro Atlanta and north Georgia
- Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico in Bayamón, Puerto Rico
- Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
- Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C.
- Community Action Services and Food Bank in Provo, Utah
- Community Food Bank of Central Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama
- Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona in Tucson, Arizona
- Connecticut Food Bank in East Haven, Connecticut
- Feeding America San Diego in San Diego, California
- Feeding South Florida in Pembroke Park, Florida
- Feeding Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida
- Feeding the Gulf Coast, Theodore, Alabama serving the central Gulf Coast
- Feeding America West Michigan in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Food Bank for Larimer County in Fort Collins, Colorado
- Foodlink in Rochester, New York
- Food Bank For New York City in New York City
- Food Bank of Alaska, Inc. in Anchorage, Alaska
- Food Bank of Delaware in Delaware
- Food Lifeline in Seattle, Washington
- Forgotten Harvest in Metro Detroit
- Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Gleaners Community Food Bank in Southeastern Michigan
- Good Shepherd Food Bank in Maine
- Greater Boston Food Bank in Boston, Massachusetts
- Greater Chicago Food Depository in Chicago, Illinois
- Harvest Hope in Columbia, South Carolina
- Hawaii Foodbank, Inc. in Honolulu, Hawaii
- Houston Food Bank in Houston, Texas
- North Texas Food Bank in Dallas, Texas
- Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh, NC
- Philabundance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Redwood Empire Food Bank in northern California
- Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services in Sacramento, California
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo County in Silicon Valley, California
- Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, California
- Second Harvest Food Bank in southern Louisiana
- Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio in Lorain, Ohio
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee in Kingsport, Tennessee
- Second Harvest Inland Northwest in Spokane, Washington
- Second Harvest North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida
- St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, Arizona
- Vermont Foodbank in Barre, Vermont
- Virginia Peninsula Food Bank in Hampton Roads, Virginia
