I have volunteered at this program before and I just so happen to work for the public schools. When you volunteer, sometimes you don't get to see the end result or see the people you have helped make a difference for, but I was lucky enough to see the end result. On Wednesday nights (I believe it is) they have a family night where they pack food into a plastic bag for school children who need it for the weekend. It is food that is easy to make or snack on that will last them through the weekend until they are able to go back to school and eat a meal there. Well, while at work one day I noticed that there were several children who happened to get a package from the office (they try to be discreet so not to embarrass the kids) and just so happen I saw what was in one package and it was the packaged food for the weekend. It was good to know that every volunteers' work was actually going to real people. Sometimes I wonder who really receives this or does my work make a difference, but I liked knowing that the food went to someone who really needed it.
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- EIN 62-1049447
- (615) 329-3491
- 331 Great Circle Rd Nashville TN 37228 USA
- www.secondharvestmidtn.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Food, Food Banks & Pantries, Food Programs, Nutrition
Mission: Second harvest food bank of middle tennessee, inc. (the "food bank") was founded in 1978. Its mission is to feed hungry people and work to solve hunger issues in our community. The food bank is one of over 200 certified members of feeding america, the nation's largest food bank network.
Programs: Community food partners - provided over 23 million pounds of food during 2017 (21 million pounds in 2016) to nearly 500 not-for-profit agencies, including soup kitchens and emergency food programs. The middle tennessee's table program collects perishable and non-perishable food from 232 food donors, such as grocery stores, retailers, wholesalers and bakeries, which is then distributed to our community food partners and programs. These products include meats, produce, dairy, bread, bakery items and dry products. During 2016, the food bank distributed over 12. 3 million pounds of food (equivalent to more than 10. 2 million meals) under this program. (the food bank distributed 11. 6 million pounds equivalent to more than 9. 7 million meals in 2016). Another program within community food partners is the mobile pantry program. Mobile pantry travels to the forty-six county service area and delivers large boxes of perishable and non-perishable food and supplies that are distributed to people in need. During 2017, over 5. 4 million pounds of food (5. 4 million pounds of food in 2016) were distributed through this program. On october 1, 2014, second harvest began offering snap outreach through our emergency food box sites. Mobile pantry distributions, and partner agencies to people and families with low incomes, including working people, households with children, seniors, unemployed people, immigrant families and people with disabilities. Snap helps them buy the food they need for good health. Second harvest's benefits outreach counselor shares information about the nutrition benefits of snap, pre-screens potential participants, and helps people fill out the snap application. In fy17, our counselor assisted in completing 1,579 applications (nearly 1,336 snap applications in fy16).
project preserve - operates a unique program that distributes purchased product to local agencies and other feeding america affiliates. In addition, the program has a cook/chill operation, which is a method of food manufacturing that involves heating food, pumping the product into form-fill plastic bags that are heat sealed, then super cooled for approximately 45 minutes prior to freezing the product. It has utilized large amounts of donated ingredients that would have otherwise been wasted. Additionally, this operation produces tray pack meals for children's feeding, senior nutrition and partner agencies that do direct home distribution to clients in need. In fy17, an innovative solution to produce shelf stable spaghetti sauce from donated tomatoes began. Project preserve was able to produce 6,000 ibs. Per week of this highly nutritious and desirable product from november-june. Another component of project preserve is custom product assembly for national distribution. During 2017, this production assembled over 900,000 backpacks, additionally, project preserve was able to ship 123 feeding america network food banks nearly 44 million pounds of quality first line purchased food items.
emergency food box - provided nearly 2. 6 million pounds of food during 2017 in emergency staples to families in need through its sixteen satellite centers in davidson county.