Region and North Central Indiana food banks are receiving a share of $1 million in state funds to support their efforts in providing food to those in need in their respective markets.
Lt. Gov. Crouch and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture announced 11 food banks will receive state support. This funding amount has more than tripled from years past.
“Food banks are tremendous assets for supporting Hoosiers, and it is great to see increased funding go to 11 food banks across Indiana,” Crouch said. “These community organizations were staples during the COVID-19 pandemic and went above and beyond to feed Hoosiers. I am proud to support their efforts each and every day.”
The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana in Merrillville is receiving $97,300, while the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in South Bend will receive $115,800.
According to Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, nearly 1.2 million Hoosiers were food insecure at the height of the pandemic. In children, the risk was even higher with one in every four children being at risk of hunger.
The 11 food banks awarded distributed more than 156 million pounds of food in 2020 to mobile pantries, food pantries and community kitchens across Indiana, the state said. Alongside food supplementation, they also supply in need Hoosiers with household essentials.
“Even with significant help coming from federal nutrition programs, we still expect more than 13% of all Hoosiers, and as many as one in six Hoosier children, to be unsure from where their next meal will come from this year,” said Emily Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry.
The distribution amounts were determined using The Emergency Food Assistance Program fair share percentages for Indiana, which captures poverty and unemployment levels in each county. One award recipient is Community Harvest Food Bank from Fort Wayne, where last year they served over 112,000 Hoosiers.
Other food banks receiving funds:
- Community Harvest Food Bank (Fort Wayne) – $99,400
- Dare to Care Food Bank (Louisville, Kentucky; serves five southern Indiana counties) – $36,100
- Food Finders Food Bank Inc. (Lafayette) – $93,200
- FreeStore Foodbank (Cincinnati, Ohio; serves parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana) – $8,500
- Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc. (Indianapolis) – $321,600
- Hoosier Hills Food Bank Inc. (Bloomington) – $43,900
- Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana Inc. (Muncie) – $79,000
- Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank Inc. (Terre Haute) – $43,500
- Tri-State Food Bank Inc.(Evansville) – $61,700
