In the community we are well known for our ability to provide food to people who live in food insecure households. We work hard to efficiently distribute millions of pounds of food across our region to local partner agencies.

But as leaders in hunger relief, we manage and operate many different initiatives aimed at tackling the issue of hunger as a whole. For example:

  • Our Kids Meals & More programs feed kids when they are not in school and help create positive learning environments.
  • Our Three Squares for CENC program expands access to the Food and Nutrition Services Program, helping to supplement food budgets.
  • We advocate for public policy solutions that support the efforts of our donors, volunteers, and staff, and remove barriers that may prevent people from accessing nutritious food.

We believe it is important to educate our elected officials about the epidemic of food insecurity in their communities and help them identify and advance policy solutions that could put struggling families on the road to healthy, hunger-free lives. To that end we periodically organize meetings at all six of our branches to bring together our government representatives, partner agencies, and Food Bank staff to discuss important public policy and legislation that could affect the scope and success of our efforts.

Most recently we invited representatives from the county, city, state, and federal level to attend these sessions and discuss hunger-related initiatives currently under review such as the reauthorization of child nutrition programs.

 

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Mr. Levi from Poplar Springs Food Pantry talks about the increase in the number of grandparents seeking help to feed their grandchildren at our Raleigh meeting.

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Attendees of our Raleigh Branch Meeting. Elected officials: Berry Shepheard from U.S. Senator Burr’s office, N.C State Representative Yvonne Holley, N.C. State Representative Rosa Gill, Wake County Commissioner Jessica Holmes; Partner Agencies: Catholic Parish Outreach, Christians United Outreach, N.C.A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Poplar Springs Food Pantry; Food Bank Board Member Barbara Morales Burke, Food Bank VP of Agency Services and Programs Earline Middleton, Food Bank VP of Development Ashley Delamar, and Food Bank President/CEO Peter Werbicki
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Elected officials, partner agencies, and Food Bank staff discuss the need in the community at our Sandhills Branch.

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Attendees of our Sandhills Branch Meeting. Elected official: N.C. State Representative Jamie Boles; Partner Agencies: Helping Hands, Partners in Ministry, Word of Truth, Leak Street Community Center, Restoring Hope; Food Bank Regional Council: George Norman; Food Bank Staff: VP of Agency Services and Programs Earline Middleton, Sandhills Branch Director Michael Cotton, and Outreach Coordinator Jessica Ledbetter

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Attendees of our Greenville Branch Meeting. Elected official: N.C. State Representative Mike Speciale

 

Thank you to all the elected officials and partner agencies who joined us for these productive discussions! We are grateful for the opportunity to tell the story of food insecurity in our communities and talk about ways we can work together to solve hunger.