SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK PROGRAMS

Community Food Rescue – The purpose of the Community Food Rescue Program is to collect all types of perishable foods that would have otherwise been thrown away.  Six days a week for all 52 weeks of the year, Community Food Rescue Drivers pick-up and re-distribute perishable foods free of charge to over 50 agencies in Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties including soup kitchens, homeless shelters and low-income daycares. Annually, the Community Food Rescue program collects almost 2 million pounds of food that would have otherwise been thrown away.  This is our GO GREEN program!  For more information, contact Donna Ragan or Kathy Helms at 704-376-1785.

Mobile Pantry – This program is designed to deliver food to rural areas of our service region where poverty rates tend to be higher.  Specially equipped trucks deliver 5,000 – 10,000 pounds of food per trip.  Mobile pantry deliveries occur 10 months of the year with approximately 100 pantries held annually.  In fiscal year 2007, we delivered almost 1.2 million pounds of food and served over 50,000 individuals through this program.

Kids Café – This is our childhood hunger initiative. SHFBM partners with agencies that already serve children at risk of hunger to help provide nutritious meals and snacks at their sites.  We currently operate 33 of these sites in 9 different counties and serve thousands of children who might otherwise go hungry.  Our goal is to have sites in all 19 counties within 5 years.

Backpack Program – A component of the Kids Café Program, the Backpack Program is designed to provide children at risk of hunger with backpacks full of ready to eat, nutritious foods for weekends and holidays when school meals are not available.  This program currently operates at 25 sites in Mecklenburg, York, Anson, Union, N.C., Iredell and Spartanburg Counties.

Five A Day Calcium Program – This program provides calcium rich foods and nutritional information to children and seniors at risk of hunger in Cabarrus, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Stanly, Rowan, and Union, N.C. counties.

Second Helping – This program provides supplemental boxes of nutritious foods to homebound elderly in York, Lancaster, Lincoln, Union, N.C. and Cabarrus counties on a monthly basis.