Arkansas Foodbank

The Arkansas Foodbank is a non-profit food bank located in Little Rock, Arkansas.The Arkansas Foodbank distributed more than 20.9 million pounds of food and grocery products to its member agencies for Arkansans in need in 2013, according to Chief Executive Officer, Rhonda Sanders.

Established in 1984, the Arkansas Foodbank is a cornerstone of hunger relief. Through local and national partnerships, the Foodbank acquires and distributes large quantities of food and other resources to hungry people. Food and other grocery products are distributed to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and schools throughout our entire 33-county service area in central and south Arkansas. The Foodbank's central location is a 73,000 sq. ft warehouse called the Donald W. Reynolds Distribution Center in Little Rock. They also operate two other branches in Caddo Valley and Warren, Ark.

More than 270,000 people within the Arkansas Foodbank's 33-county service area don't have a steady source of food; nearly 90,000 of them are children. Last year, the Foodbank distributed 17.4 million meals to their 300 member agencies to help feed the hungry. [1]

The Arkansas Foodbank is a member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. They are also a founding member of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. The group is made up of the 6 Feeding America food banks in Arkansas with the goal to create a coordinated effort to reduce hunger in the state. [2]

Overview

The Foodbank provides hunger-relief services to 300 member agencies. Many of them our either food pantries, soup kitchens or shelters. The Foodbank also provides assistance through the following programs:

New Building

In 2010, as a result of a $10.3 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Arkansas Foodbank began construction on a new warehouse and distribution facility. On March 28, 2011, operations began at the new Arkansas Foodbank Donald W. Reynolds Distribution Center. Key advantages of the new facility is that it more than doubles the Foodbank's storage capacity for dry, refrigerated, and frozen products, it will serve to accelerate food sourcing and distribution, give the Foodbank the ability to handle diverse products for better diets for the hungry people of Arkansas, and lastly, improves the usable facilities for volunteers, especially groups of volunteers seeking worthwhile community service projects.


Counties served

The Foodbank serves 33 counties in Arkansas:

References

External links

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