Welcome to Weekly Harvest, our new blog at Second Harvest Food Bank! This is our place to share everything you want to know about SHFB, our communities, and food. Every week, you can find something new, whether that is a budget-friendly recipe, facts about hunger and poverty, or some insights into our programs and staff here at Second Harvest. We have much we want to share with you, and we hope you will join us every week and engage with our posts.
To start off, we want to introduce you to Second Harvest Food Bank. The food bank got its start in 1981 in a simple storage space behind the county children’s home. Expansion efforts and a fire in 2001 led Second Harvest Food Bank to its current location on East Columbia. After many years of support from Catholic Charities, we were able to launch our new brand in January 2020. This year, we will celebrate our 40th year as a food bank and our first year as a locally owned and governed nonprofit. Our journey would not be possible without the tremendous support from the community, especially as we transitioned into an independent organization.
Second Harvest Food Bank has a simple yet ambitious mission: to alleviate hunger. We believe that our communities thrive when hunger is minimized. Located in the heart of Springfield, Second Harvest distributes food to Clark, Champaign, and Logan counties. We have a series of direct programs to distribute food to those who need it, and we also supply food to over 65 partner agencies, including pantries, soup kitchens, and nonprofits, in our tri-county service area. As a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Second Harvest has access to many resources to help connect people with food to end hunger.
We have an amazing staff here at Second Harvest Food Bank, as well as a team of three AmeriCorps VISTAs serving this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve also had a group of stellar National Guard members who stepped in when we couldn‘t welcome our volunteers anymore. Thanks to their help, Second Harvest distributed over 10 million meals and served more than 65,000 individuals in 2020. Throughout the coming months, you’ll be able to put some names to faces and get to know everyone who makes our daily operations possible as we highlight our wonderful team.
There will be plenty of opportunities to engage with Second Harvest Food Bank coming up, whether that is through receiving food from one of our programs, as a volunteer, or simply by advocating for food security in our communities. This blog will serve as another place for us to engage and share resources, opportunities, and news with you. Check back regularly and join us for a Weekly Harvest as we glean some information about food, poverty, nutrition, and more!
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