The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina has been named Food Bank of the Year by Feeding America
The ‘Member of the Year’ award is one of the highest honors awarded to food bank leaders. Feeding America, a national association of more than 200 food banks nationwide, chose our Food Bank for our local community-building, contributions to the Feeding America network, and innovative solutions in ending hunger. We are honored, humbled, and happy to receive this recognition. It will bolster us as we continue working to nourish neighbors and empower communities, even as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased food insecurity 38% in our service area. We are grateful to the partners, donors, volunteers, and friends who all make this important work possible. This award belongs to everyone who believes in our No One Goes Hungry vision!
“The Food Bank is an incredible organization making tremendous impact for people facing hunger in and outside of Raleigh,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. “We congratulate President & CEO Peter Werbicki and the entire food bank staff for their dedication to addressing the needs of the community and working to end hunger. From their focus on engaging with key partners and empowering neighbors with resources to make nutritious choices to supporting member food banks across the network in times of disaster or emergency, the Food Bank demonstrates just how much of a difference a food bank can make in the community.”
The Food Bank, headquartered in Raleigh with branches in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, the Sandhills, and Wilmington, was recognized as Member of the Year for their commitment to collaboration in building strong relationships with community partners and the national network to best serve neighbors in need. The Food Bank was also highlighted for its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and beginning the work of educating employees on how to use an EDI lens to inform core strategy and decision-making to best serve neighbors in need.
“This is a tremendous honor, and we’re extremely grateful to be recognized among our peers and by Feeding America nationally for the work we’re doing in central and eastern North Carolina to ensure no one goes hungry,” said Peter Werbicki, President & CEO of the Food Bank. “Ending hunger doesn’t happen in a vacuum; we could not do this work every day without our dedicated and committed partner agencies, volunteers, and donors. This year marks the Food Bank’s 40th anniversary of hunger relief work in our communities. Through partnerships and programming, we’re working every day to build solutions to ending hunger that mean we won’t have to be operational 40 years from now.”
