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Causes: Food, Food Programs, Human Service Organizations, Human Services
Mission: The mission of table to table is to keep wholesome, edible food from going to waste by collecting it from donors and distributing it to those in need through agencies that serve the hungry, homeless and at-risk populations.
Programs: Table to table builds vital connections between abundance and hunger in johnson county. And we do it by transporting wholesome food that would otherwise go to waste to community agencies who feed those in need. Last year, table to table distributed nearly 2 million pounds of donated food. Table to table's mission is to get edible food to food insecure individuals and families by keeping it from the landfill (nearly 40% of food distributed in the us goes to waste). According to "map the meal gap", a survey conducted by feeding america in 2013, 14% of the population of johnson county are food insecure. They may not know where their next meal will be coming from or have access to adequate nutrition. Of this number, 4,490 are children; representing 16. 9% of all children in the county. It's not enough to distribute food that would otherwise go to waste, table to table makes a concerted effort to collect and distribute the most nutritious and high-need foods by seeking donors who provide produce, meat, and dairy. The need for these items is two-fold. Hungry, homeless and at-risk population in johnson county don't have adequate access to food and even less access to nutritious fresh foods. Nutritious, fresh foods are also the most cost prohibitive for local agencies to purchase and provide to those they serve. By seeking out these specific donations, table to table efficiently keeps food out of the waste stream, minimize food insecurity for individuals and families, and mitigate the cost of providing nutritious food for 40 social service agencies in johnson county. Area agencies are experiencing an increase in the number of individuals and families coming to them for support. Through our partners, table to table is helping to serve more than 19,000 hungry people. The need keeps growing and we strive to increase our distribution to meet the rise in requests by continuously looking for new donors to meet the food needs of area agencies.