HUNGER WITH US.
We can do even more. In fact, we absolutely must.
Because everyone deserves to eat, and all our lives, and our communities, too, are made better when everyone is able to access the food they need to live their healthiest, best life — free from hunger.
Hunger for Change Updates
Hunger for Change Updates
Hunger for Change
Hunger for Change - Volunteer
Everybody is hungry
for something.
But too many among us
are hungry for food.
Hunger in a world with more than enough food to sustain everyone? Yes.
Children in our community are hungry. Mothers and fathers are going without food trying to feed their children.
Serious hunger like this has severe and rippling consequences. On health and education. On family and employment. On hope.
But there is reason to be hopeful. We are making a difference. We are reducing hunger in our community and addressing its root causes. And now we have a chance to do more.
Because our success yesterday means nothing to the individual, family, or child who will be hungry tomorrow.
This is what we never forget.
This is who we never forget.
YOU MIGHT BE
SURPRISED
WHO'S HUNGRY.
Serious hunger is a misunderstood and multidimensional reality in our community. It affects individuals, families, and children in a variety of ways that often go unseen.
Sometimes the reason is systemic poverty; sometimes it is a sudden turn of bad luck. Families living paycheck to paycheck can find themselves having to choose between buying groceries or paying for healthcare, rent, or heat. Compromises that no person should ever have to make become inescapable, and a cycle of food insecurity takes hold.
1 in 5 children in Northwest NC is living at risk of going without enough food for their development and success.
1 in 7 people in North Carolina cannot reliably afford enough food to live a healthy life in the face of economic uncertainty worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Being hungry is often the final and most fundamental assault in daily struggles to be healthy, employed, self-sufficient, and respected.
25% of food insecure residents in our service area do not qualify
for state or federal assistance
HUNGER IS ABOUT
MORE THAN
GOING HUNGRY.
Whether distributing healthy food, training people for careers in the culinary industry, educating our community about nutrition, or advocating for families, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC is on the frontlines of hunger while also addressing its root causes.
The people we serve are challenged by so much more than hunger, requiring us to think broadly about the impact of our mission on individual lives and the society we share. Yes. it's complicated. Hunger has enormous and interweaving causes and consequences, which is why for 40 years we have focused on addressing the issue comprehensively and constructively.
84% of all food distributed by our partners comes from Second Harvest.
YOUR HELP WILL TRANSFORM LIVES.
Today, as we serve more families who struggle with hunger than ever before and sponsor more education and career training opportunities, we face an inescapable truth: We can do things even better. In fact, we absolutely must. With thousands of volunteers and more than 515 partner programs across 18 counties in Northwest NC, we now find ourselves severely constrained by space and system limitations. We can no longer adequately handle the increase in healthy, perishable foods that require refrigeration and prompt distribution. We have a myriad of process and storage hurdles causing delays and setbacks.
Luckily, these are entirely solvable limitations. So, we will solve them.
With your help, we will transform how we function. We will do more and be better. We will spark innovation and nourish collaboration to provide hunger relief and programs that reduce the need for such relief in the first place.
Your contribution to Hunger for Change—our first capital campaign in nearly 20 years—will help us overcome logistical challenges that are significantly impeding our mission to serve the people and communities of Northwest North Carolina...slowing us down when we need to be moving faster.
Too much of the food we grow in this country goes to waste, not feeding a single person when we have millions who are hungry. If that sounds unacceptable, help us change it.
CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES
By combining the storage and operations of three disconnected warehouses, multiple cold storage trailers, and a separate office building into a modern, centralized community hub, we will achieve permanent improvements that:
PROVIDENCE CULINARY TRAINING
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Our Hunger for Change campaign will support the continued evolution of one of our greatest and most celebrated success stories. Providence Culinary Training is a nationally recognized program that offers students professional training in a fully-equipped kitchen so they may pursue careers in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Anchored in the knowledge that hunger is less likely to be a hardship for people who have the skills and confidence to support themselves and their families, Providence Culinary Training addresses a root-cause of hunger by increasing economic independence.
With over 800 graduates, Providence Culinary Training is now complemented by thriving social enterprises, including Providence Catering, Providence at Tanglewood (Manor House Inn and Grill), and a fourth enterprise, Community Meals, that provides free, hot meals to hungry children through various local organizations. In our new space, a larger kitchen will accommodate more students as well as allow for new and expanded programs of community engagement.
To learn more about the path to sweet success through Providence, click here.
HUNGER WITH US.
We now turn to the people, foundations, and businesses who believe in the mission of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC and ask for your generous engagement with our Hunger for Change campaign. Our long history of success as a community-focused organization comes from seeing all sides of the hunger problem while responding both immediately and with a commitment to addressing systemic hunger. This takes ongoing collaboration with our many partners, reinforcement of our best strategies, and embracing new ideas and opportunities when necessary.
Today, we need more space - a centralized, modernized operation - as we do the essential work of feeding hundreds of thousands of children, families, and seniors in the 18 counties that depend on us.
We need you—and we look forward to your participation as we strive together to lessen hunger and the countless other deprivations that hunger too often causes.
As individuals, we have an opportunity to make a difference. As a community, we have the responsibility. We're all in this together.
Eric A. Aft, Chief Executive Officer
Second Harvest Food Bank
of Northwest NC