Locally Sourced - Food Bank for the Heartland

Food insecurity & the meal gap

Someone you know is food insecure. Food insecurity is the lack of reliable access to enough food to maintain a healthy lifestyle, often the result of having to choose between buying food and paying for other necessities. Food Bank for the Heartland has established ambitious goals for ending this epidemic in our community within the next 10 years – and your help is key .

The meal gap represents the meals missing from the homes of individuals and families struggling with food insecurity in the Heartland. Factors like poverty and local food costs help determine our meal gap.

As Food Bank for the Heartland works to reach our goal of closing the meal gap by 2025, we are calling on community members to think and act locally. The best support is locally sourced.

You have the power to feed your neighbors, to help us end food insecurity in Nebraska and western Iowa and to bring about real, lasting change in our communities.

Our mission & bold goals

Mission, Vision, Values

Mission

To ensure access to healthy food for people in need in Nebraska and western Iowa

Vision

To close the meal gap in a sustainable fashion by 2025

Values

In everything we do, we serve with respect, integrity and urgency

Bold goals

Goal #1

Provide 39 million meals per year by 2025

Goal #2

Strategically increase food sourcing program by 65% over 10 years

Goal #3

Develop the processes, infrastructure and resources to empower our network partners

Goal #4

Expand SNAP outreach to 9.3 million meals per year by 2025

achieving our goals

Achieving our goals

Provide 39 million meals per year by 2025

Source nutritious food and provide the meals required to fill the meal gap in our 93-county service area
Double funding over the next 10 years and increase school-based distributions & direct distributions

Strategically increase food sourcing program by 65% over 10 years

Increase food budget from $2.7M to $6.2M to include funding for produce and transportation
Emphasis on sourcing more fresh produce to improve nutritional content

Develop the processes, infrastructure and resources to empower our network partners

The Food Bank’s 530 network partners will continue to be the primary distribution channel
Increase budget to support network partners and explore new partners in rural communities

Expand SNAP outreach to 9.3 million meals per year by 2025

The Food Bank will continue to be an industry leader and will seek to leverage technology upgrades and a larger outreach budget
Benefits are invested back into the communities where the recipients live and the state’s economy