Happy July, everyone! What a festive time of year, as everywhere you look you see red, white and blue as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday. A milestone such as this should be celebrated in a big way, so we wanted to highlight some of the ways that the St. Louis Area Foodbank has been involved. I would also like to shine a light on the future and how we can all focus on creating a stronger bi-state region and, one day, celebrate independence from food insecurity.
Last week, the St. Louis Area Foodbank received a truckload of food through a collaboration between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the America250 initiative. The truck delivered 40,000 pounds of shelf-stable food and household essentials, including beans, spaghetti, beef stew, flour, canned meats, vegetables and soap. These items will help support our neighbors and partner food pantries throughout the 26 counties we serve.
People are also reading…
As America prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this nationwide initiative is focused on creating a meaningful, lasting impact in local communities. By supporting regional food banks across the country, these donations help build a legacy of service, compassion and hope for those facing food insecurity. We are grateful for this partnership and for the opportunity to provide critical resources to families in our region.
This fall, the St. Louis Area Foodbank will once again partner with 911day.org for our 9/11 Meal Pack and day of service. This event, which this year commemorates 25 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, is an incredible opportunity to harness the good, the kindness, the compassion and the love we saw and felt on 9/12/01.
Partners from across the country are stepping in and stepping up as we unite together as a nation, and this year we are proud to have been part of conversations to bring new partners to the table. You can read the full press release here:
As we look ahead to the future and a new fiscal year, and after the fireworks, of course, we are focused on programs, pilots and partnerships that will focus on changing trajectories. We will work to meet neighbors where they are with more access and access points for emergency food support, as we nourish, empower and transform our communities, one family at a time. While we certainly cannot put all these innovations into one blog, below are some of the highlights you will see coming from the St. Louis Area Foodbank this year, including but not limited to:
- Launching our third Food on the Move trailer that will add more than a dozen new locations for food access across our region, with increased focus on rural communities and areas in southwest Illinois.
- Eliminating barriers to food by increasing options, growing our grocery rescue program and continuing to create capacity-building opportunities for our food pantry partners.
- Investing in our nutrition programs and focus through food sourcing, healthy pantry initiatives, food as medicine expansion and culturally relevant food sourcing.
- Continuing our investments in technology to make food and resources accessible to our neighbors while attracting new partners to join our mission in new ways, such as our Foodbank2Go program, our multilingual resources and new donor engagement platforms.
These are just a few highlights and do not include the new pilot programs that we will finalize and test this year, and look to roll out more in the months and years ahead. We will be busy, but that is because we recognize our need to continuously evolve to meet the changing needs of the communities that we support.
All of this means we will need your help, energy, ideas and input. Our hope is that after the fireworks are over and the barbecues cool down, you will take a moment to think about how you can make an impact on your community this year.
