Overview A program of New Hampshire Catholic Charities, the New Hampshire Food Bank serves as the only Food Bank in the state. Our current approach to ending hunger includes developing programs to help educate our registered agencies, rolling out a Mobile Food Pantry, expanding our Operation Frontline program, and developing our Recipe for Success program. Every year, the Food Bank distributes nearly 6 million pounds of donated, surplus food to 405* food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, day care centers and senior citizen homes. These registered agencies in turn provide the food to the over 127,200** different men, women and children throughout New Hampshire each year. What is a Food Bank?
A food bank is the center of food collection and distribution in a community. This food usually comes from grocery stores or manufacturers that have thousands of pounds of food to give away -- food that would have otherwise been thrown away. In essence, food banks operate intricate and advanced warehousing operations where food is collected, sorted and re-distributed to the community. Traditionally, a food bank does not distribute food directly to those in need. Instead, food banks serve an extensive network of organizations in their respective communities. These organizations serve one part of the community and know the needs of the people there. Therefore, working together, the food bank and the community organization can serve a greater number of people in the most efficient way. At the New Hampshire Food Bank, much of our food supply comes through Feeding America, the nation's food bank network formerly known as America's Second Harvest. Feeding America solicits product donations from national companies such as Con-Agra, Kellogg's, Nabisco and others, which are then allocated to over 200 food banks across the country. Each food bank is responsible for paying transportation costs to get the product in-house.  *as of 8/3/2010 **determined by the 2010 Hunger Study
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