GREAT PLAINS FOOD BANK
1720 3rd Ave N, Fargo, ND 581024254 www.greatplainsfoodbank.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: End hunger through community partnerships.

The Great Plains Food Bank is North Dakota's largest hunger-relief organization with a mission to end hunger through community partnerships. Our vision is a hunger-free North Dakota and western Minnesota. Both our mission and vision are fueled by our values of passion, service and innovation.

STATEWIDE FOOD RECOVERY AND DISTRIBUTION: The Great Plains Food Bank (GPFB) is the only food bank serving the state of North Dakota and Clay County, Minn. Our mission is to end hunger through community partnerships. During FY20, the Great Plains Food Bank served 14.4 million meals to over 135,000 people struggling with hunger; 37% were children and 14% were seniors. The GPFB's core business is to recover surplus shelf-stable and perishable food that would otherwise go to waste, and get it into the hands of hungry children, seniors and working parents.The GPFB works with hundreds of FOOD DONORS (grocers, manufacturers, growers, retailers and community food drive partners) who donate food for a variety of reasons (overproduction, packaging mistakes, nearing a freshness date or grown to donate). This food makes its way to clients either through GPFB's DIRECT SERVICE PROGRAMS or diverse network of PARTNER AGENCIES. The GPFB serves nearly 200 partner agencies (food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and other charitable feeding programs operating) in 95 communities who are on the front lines providing food to those in need. Direct Service Programs like the Mobile Food Pantry, Senior Food Box Program and the BackPack Program, allow the GPFB to get food to people in need through a variety of targeted programs. VOLUNTEERS are the backbone of our operation. Their service enables us to distribute food efficiently. More than 5,000 VOLUNTEERS share nearly 20,000 hours' worth of time at GPFB, repackaging bulk items, packing food packages, handing out food, or sorting food drives items. The GPFB is supported by thousands of FINANCIAL DONORS who keep our organizational operational. For every $1 donated, the GPFB can distribute food for 3 meals. We rely on COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS in every corner of the state to help us design and implement community-based services that tackle both the immediate and long-term root causes of hunger. And finally, we collaborate with our CLIENTS by regularly seeking their guidance and feedback to improve services, reduce barriers, and adapt programs to better meet their needs.Our COVID-19 response started in March 2020. As food donations declined, we had to purchase truckloads of food to meet the growing food needs. We hired temporary staff to tackle additional food deliveries, distributions, and enhanced cleaning/sanitizing practices. We also invested in our physical infrastructure to ensure safe storage and handling of produce and other perishable food products.

USDA COMMODITY DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMS: The GPFB operates two USDA Commodity Programs for the state of North Dakota. These programs include The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP - Senior Food Pack Program). TEFAP provides commodity products (fresh fruits and vegetables, canned fruit, vegetables and juices, dry and shelf-stable milk, cheese, canned meats, peanut butter or dried beans, cereal, rice or pasta) to qualified emergency feeding programs such as soup kitchens, emergency shelters, and food pantries across the state. In FY20, the Great Plains Food Bank distributed 4 million meals of TEFAP product to low-income individuals.The Senior Food Pack Program is a commodity-based program that provides nutritionally-balanced, shelf-stable food packages to low-income seniors, which is also supplemented with perishable products provided by the GPFB. Seniors aged 60+ with incomes of less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible for enrollment in the program. The Senior Food Pack Program served 26 counties throughout the state of North Dakota. During FY20, the GPFB distributed 200,000 meals to nearly 700 eligible seniors.

CHILD HUNGER PROGRAMS: The Great Plains Food Bank operates a trio of programs aimed at eradicating childhood hunger. These programs include the BackPack, Youth Summer Meals and School Pantry Programs.The BackPack Program is the cornerstone of the GPFB's suite of programs directly targeting childhood hunger. Each year, more than 33,000 kids qualify for and greatly rely on the free and reduced cost school lunch program. But on the weekends when the school lunch program is not available, many of those children struggle with inadequate food supplies. The BackPack Program provides a bag full of kid-friendly food to children for the weekend, ensuring children return to school Monday morning healthy and ready to learn. During FY20, the GPFB provided a total of 364,206 meals through the BackPack Program. The School Pantry Program is a simply a food pantry located in a school, ensuring families and youth in need of assistance have easy access to food and other necessities. In FY20, the GPFB was able to provide nearly 47,000 meals to over two dozen schools. The Youth Summer Meals program is designed to feed low-income children over the summer, when they don't have access to school meals. The GPFB operates meals sites in low-income neighborhoods to provide well-balanced, nutritious meals to any child under age 18, free of charge. The Youth Summer Meal program provided nearly 7,000 meals to children last summer.

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