Rhode Island Community Food Bank Association

Programs: During the fiscal year, which ended on june 30, 2015, the food bank distributed a record 9. 7 million pounds of food to its 167 member agencies with 119 program sites. Most of the food distributed, 89 percent, was core, nutritious food including fresh produce, grains, protein and dairy products.

kids cafe serves wholesome evening meals to children at risk of hunger, supplementing the federal school breakfast and school lunch programs. In fiscal year 2015, the food bank operated twelve kids cafe sites in the high-need cities of providence, central falls, east providence, cumberland, and newport in collaboration with existing after school programs in each community. The program provided over 104,000 meals & snacks during the past year.

community kitchen is a culinary job-training program for adults transitioning into the workforce. Students create nutritious meals for distribution to the kids cafe after school meal program. During the year ending june 30, 2015, the food bank conducted four community kitchen classes. A total of 43 students graduated from the program. Within three months of their graduations, approximately 84 percent had secured employment in the food service industry.

community cooking is the food bank's adult nutrition education program which is run in conjunction with its member agencies. The program teaches people with limited resources the best ways to use the food available from the food bank to create healthy meals, and how to stretch dollars further in the grocery store by planning recipes and utilizing the supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap) - formerly the federal food stamp program. In fiscal year 2015, the food bank staff provided 88 direct outreach modules (nutrition workshops, on-site nutrition modules and demos) and 14 agency train-the-trainer workshops. Overall, 2,116 clients and staff participated in nutrition education programming.