State Partners

Iowa

OUR PARTNER. Iowa Food Bank Association

Impact to date:

The Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) is a collaboration of the eight Feeding America food banks that serve all Iowa’s 99 counties. Together, the food banks serve over 1,000 non-profit organizations serving children, adults, and seniors. These organizations include food pantries, emergency meal sites, congregational meal sites, emergency shelters, and other sites that provide food to clients. As an association, the organization is coordinating efforts to alleviate hunger by supporting Feeding America food banks that serve Iowa.

FINNEGANS partnered with the Iowa Food Bank Association in 2015 and are excited to share another way to provide produce to local foodshelves.

Hunger in Iowa

One in eight Iowans are food insecure. The ratio for children are worse with one in every five Iowa children not having enough to eat. There are about 395,620 Iowans that live at or below the poverty level. In analyzing the data from Hunger in America 2014, they have found a wealth of information that better identifies and helps us to understand what hunger looks like. Of clients visiting their partner agencies and participating in their programs: 49% are children (0-17 years old) and seniors (age 60+); 29% of the seniors are caring for grandchildren. This percentage is significantly higher than the state average of 16%.

Minnesota

OUR PARTNER. The Food Group.

Impact to date:

FINNEGANS has helped initiate and fund six new farm and six new food shelf partnerships in 2011 and in 2012 four new farm partnerships were established to enable even more fresh, local produce to be donated to food shelves across the state. FINNEGANS support for Harvest for the Hungry enabled the donation of 61,290 lbs of fresh produce to food shelves in 2011 and a record-setting 110,189 lbs of fresh produce in 2012.

Hunger in Minnesota

Nearly one out of every ten Minnesotans – around 491,000 people – are experiencing poverty. Of this shocking number, 15% are children 18 years old and younger. Every year, these low-income Minnesotans miss a staggering 100 million meals. In 2010, 14% of Minnesota households didn’t have enough money to buy food, and of those that used food shelves, 47% of adults and 14% of children skip meals because there is not enough food at home.

Wisconsin

OUR PARTNER. Hunger Task Force of Wisconsin

Impact to date:

Hunger Task Force believes that every person has a right to adequate food obtained with dignity. Hunger Task Force works to prevent hunger and malnutrition by providing food to people in need today and by promoting social policies to achieve a hunger-free community tomorrow. In 2012, $3,745.74 was donated to purchase fresh, local produce in WI.

In 2004, Hunger Task Force partnered with Milwaukee County to operate The Farm to grow produce that would be donated directly to those in need. The Farm is located in Franklin, WI with 139 acres of farmland, six acres of apple orchard, 20 acres of tree nursery, a fish hatchery, and 28 garden beds grown by school children. Every pound of produce, over 350,000 lbs. annually, that is grown on the Farm is to be donated free of charge to Wisconsin food pantries.

Hunger in Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, around 573,800 people live in a household in which they do not know where their next meal is going to come from. These homes represent almost one in every 11 homes in Wisconsin. Many of those that are included in these homes who are in the greatest need – 37% are under the age of 18 and 7% are senior citizens. In west central Wisconsin alone, more than 14,500 people each month rely on food received from Feed My People programs for their very next meal. About 39% of these are children – that’s 5,600 hungry kids.

North Dakota

OUR PARTNER. Great Plains Food Bank

Impact to date:

For nearly 30 years, the Great Plains Food Bank has been helping alleviate hunger through community partnerships. They are known for distributing great amounts of food quickly and efficiently; in 2011 alone, they collected, warehoused and distributed more than nine million pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

FINNEGANS support for Great Plains Food Bank enabled the transportation of 21,280 lbs. of fresh produce to food shelves in 2012 in ND.

Hunger in North Dakota

North Dakota is fortunate enough to be ranked as the state having the lowest level of food insecurity, as well as the second lowest in unemployment. However, despite these encouraging numbers, there are still many homes that need to make tough decisions when it comes to putting food on the table. 78,693 people in North Dakota are experiencing poverty, and 50,200 of those are food insecure. Of these food-insecure individuals, 34% are not eligible to receive help from the federal SNAP (food stamps) program.

Many of those affected are kids. During the 2010-2011 school year, 7,063 children qualified for free or discount school lunches. Throughout North Dakota, one in every 11 people receive help through a charitable feeding program.

South Dakota

OUR PARTNER. Feeding South Dakota

Impact to date:

The combined forces of the Feeding South Dakota food pantries in Sioux Falls and Rapid City serve over 65,000 people individually each year, and provides food for 100,000 people elsewhere across the state. Among those Feeding South Dakota helps, about half are children and infants. In 2009, Feeding South Dakota distributed 9.4 million pounds of food. Feeding South Dakota’s food pantries have continued to grow their BackPack Program, which since 2010 has served 5,050 kids a week during the school year.

Hunger in South Dakota

Today in South Dakota there are about 115,000 people living in poverty, which means right now, one in every seven individuals lives at or below the poverty line. Of that number, children make up around 30%. About 92,220 individuals in South Dakota are food insecure, and of these, 39% are ineligible to receive aid from the federal SNAP (food stamp) program. This means that food shelves are the only hope for a good meal for some families. Elderly poverty rates have been a problem nationwide. In 2010, South Dakota food pantries served 2,743 elderly individuals, with expansion allowing for an extra 1,100 more seniors able to be provided with nutritious food catered to their specific needs.