How does the Food Bank fill the warehouse?
Food banks are
distribution facilities that warehouse, repackage and distribute contributed
food to member organizations and charities. We receive food from a number of
national and local sources. Although we rely heavily on surplus food donated in
large quantities, local food drives and individual donations are important,
too: so how exactly do we fill our warehouse?
Food Donors…
- Feeding
America - as a member of Feeding America,
a network of over 200 regional food banks across the United States. We
receive tractor-trailer loads of food from National donors. We also
receive truckloads of produce straight from the fields. We receive about 7%
of our product from this source.
- USDA
commodities - Every year the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service
provides billions of pounds of food to help stock programs like Kids Cafe
and provide food to the Houston Food Bank's Summer Feeding Program, Senior Box Program, and additional food for distribution through partner agencies,
like soup kitchens and homeless shelters. We
receive about 22% of our product from this source.
- Large
donations - Food banks solicit and rely on large donations from
local and national businesses and nonprofit organizations. These are often
in the form of surpluses from food manufacturers, retailers and growers.
This include items like unsold bread and produce and manufacturing
production overruns. We receive about 36% of our
product from this source.
- Purchased Food – Usually program specific
expenses or to fill the gap when most needed items are not available
through donations. We receive about 3% of our
product from this source.
- Other
donations - Local businesses, faith-based charities, state government
resources and sometimes other food banks with overages provide food, too. Donations also come from people like you through walk-ins or from food
drives where you shop, work or worship. We
receive about 32% of our product from this source.
For more information about how the Houston Food Bank works, please see our latest Annual Report.
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