Two food banks in Northwest and North Central Indiana will receive part of $2 million in funding from the state of Indiana.
The Food Bank of Northern Indiana will receive $233,000, and the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana will get $195,200.
“Providing for Hoosiers who are food insecure across our state is a priority,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s secretary of agriculture and rural development, in a press release. “I am proud that the general assembly recognized this by appropriating additional state funding towards our Indiana food banks.”
According to Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, almost 1 in 6 Americans sought help with getting food from nonprofits in 2022. In Indiana, 156 million pounds of food were distributed in 2020.
Indiana has 11 food banks that distribute food to pantries and soup kitchens.
“Our member food banks are serving record numbers of Hoosier families as relief programs that help families makes ends meet have tapered off or ended,” said Emily Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. “Too many in our communities continue to make difficult choices between paying bills and buying groceries. For any Hoosier to be unsure from where their next meal will come is unacceptable.”
The Indiana state Legislature approved the funding as part of its biennial budget. Food bank amounts were determined using information provided by the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
Caption: Volunteers at an Indiana food bank pack carrots for distribution. (Provided by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture)
