- Hunger action month in September brings awareness to those that struggle to afford food
- The organization serves over 10 million meals every year
- The Greater Lansing Food Bank says that its not just this month they need help, but every month
"Greater Lansing food bank has been here in the community for over 40 years now. And we are a procurer and distributor of food." said Greater Lansing Food Bank's Director of Philanthropy, Kelly Miller.
So much food that the organization serves around 10 million meals to those in need every year. But their efforts go far beyond that.
"Sometimes it's a family making a decision between a medical bill and going to the grocery store. We try to make that decision a little easier and we know that we're helping so many people." said Miller
Donations come from partners and the average citizen. Which Kelly says is a big part of their process.
All of that food comes into the building here and it gets sorted, processed, and it goes back out.
That building is a warehouse. One that has received a big award in just a short amount of time proving that the team gives it their all. In a statement from Greater Lansing Food Bank, they say "Our 2022 inspection received 945 out of a possible 1,000 points, beating the previous record of 905. Most of the team, including our director of supply chain & logistics, was less than a year in at that point."
We also got to tour the warehouse.
"We are going into our main distribution area. And out of this space here, we have 60,000 square feet of which we use as space to feed the community."
And when you break the 10 million meals a year down to one day, you begin to see the life changing impact.
"Every day is different here at the food bank. It could be a day where were doing several mobile distributions, or having lots of groups here in the building to sort food in our volunteer center," said Miller. "But what we're seeing is month to month right now for the past year, we have seen an increase every single month of families needing our services. So we are up to about 16,000 households every month seeking services from the food bank. " said Miller
And even though there are only a few days left for hunger action month, the message is simple.
People are hungry all year round. So yes, we only have a few days left of hunger action month, but we need help 12 months out of the year.
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