Causes: Food, Food Banks & Pantries, Food Programs, Nutrition

Mission: The Bay Area Food Bank, working through member organizations and special programs, will provide nutritious food to meet the challenge of feeding people who are hungry as a result of personal crisis or disaster. The Bay Area Food Bank will educate the public regarding domestic hunger, proper nutrition and related issues.

Results: Since its founding in1981, the food bank has distributed more than 100 million pounds of food to charitable feeding organizations across the 24 counties it serves along the Central Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. In 2011, the food bank distributed nearly 16 million pounds of food to more than 220,000 individuals through our network of over 500 partner agencies – consisting of church pantries, soup kitchens, group homes and other nonprofit organizations.

Geographic areas served: The Central Gulf Coast including eight counties in south Mississippi, nine counties in south Alabama and seven counties in the Panhandle of Florida.

Programs:

The Retail Store Level Pickup Program allows the food bank to pick up short dated and perishable products. With increased efficiencies utilizing the UPS Routing and Tracking System, the food bank increased the Retail Store Level Pickup Program from five stores in 2007 to 108 stores in 2010. Each week, through our Retail Store Level Pickup Program, the food bank’s nine refrigerated box trucks are used to conduct over 300 pick-ups from area grocers including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Winn Dixie, Rouse’s, Publix and Target. Food from these pick-ups constitute over one-third of the 1.2 million pounds of food we distribute monthly and are a critical part of the Mobile Pantry Program because it includes fresh produce, frozen meat and baked goods not otherwise available.