Feeding America grant funding to significantly expand NH Food Bank’s Fresh Rescue program

Manchester, N.H. – The New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, has received a $750,000 national grant to support and expand its Fresh Rescue program, which recovers fresh, surplus food from grocery stores, wholesalers and retailers across the state. The New Hampshire Food Bank was awarded the 18-month grant from Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs.

The New Hampshire Food Bank will utilize the grant funds to support Fresh Rescue staffing, infrastructure and logistics to increase capacity and distribution to the Food Bank’s network of more than 400 partner agencies statewide. With the funding, the Food Bank will hire two additional full-time Fresh Rescue coordinators, lease three refrigerated cargo vans and procure cold storage hardware, including refrigerators, freezers, scales and safety supplies.

“This critical funding will strengthen our efforts to expand access to fresh, nutritious food for all our neighbors experiencing food insecurity across New Hampshire, while reducing unnecessary food waste,” said Dennis Gichana, Director of Operations, New Hampshire Food Bank. “As we face rising food insecurity, as well as staffing constraints and capacity issues impacting food rescue efforts, we are confident this grant will have a major impact on our ongoing fight against hunger. Although we increased food distribution by 17% in 2025, food insecurity continued to rise in New Hampshire as food costs in the Northeast increased 72% from 2005 to 2024, far outpacing inflation.”

The grant comes at a crucial time as the Fresh Rescue program relies on limited staffing, with just one staff member currently managing statewide logistics. Further, many agencies lack reliable vehicles, which impacts safe delivery of perishable items. The Food Bank will use the additional refrigerated cargo vans to serve the North Country, Upper Valley and urban centers in New Hampshire.

“This funding from Feeding America will help remove operational barriers, encourage retail donations and expand partnerships,” Gichana continued. “Our goal is to source 10 million pounds of food through the Fresh Rescue program over the next 18 months – which would reflect a 15% increase. We are working toward that goal by onboarding more agencies, recruiting additional retail donors and increasing pickup frequency, while also addressing persistent gaps in access between urban and rural communities.”

The New Hampshire Food Bank will rely on the Feeding America grant funding to improve access to fresh foods in rural and underserved areas of New Hampshire. In addition to expanding fresh food delivery, the Food Bank will focus on volunteer recruitment, onboarding and training to expand volunteer capacity in underserved areas. The grant funding will also allow the Food Bank to develop satellite warehouses and partnerships to improve food distribution in rural areas.

In 2025, the New Hampshire Food Bank distributed more than 20 million pounds of food to its more than 400 partner agencies statewide. In addition to distributing food to all corners of the state, the New Hampshire Food Bank provides an array of programming designed to address the root causes of hunger, including Culinary Job Training, Mobile Food Pantries, NH Feeding NH, the Nutrition Pantry Program, and SNAP Outreach and Application Assistance, among many others.

Residents looking to support the New Hampshire Food Bank can:

  • Donate: for every $1 donated, 93 cents directly supports New Hampshire Food Bank’s programming
  • Volunteer: visit org to learn more about volunteer opportunities
  • Host a Food Drive: host a food drive or consider donating some of the New Hampshire Food Bank’s “Most Needed Items”
  • Participate in Local Events: participate in upcoming programming and events happening throughout the state

About the New Hampshire Food Bank
The New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, has been working to relieve hunger in the Granite State since 1984. In 2025, as the state’s only food bank, the New Hampshire Food Bank efficiently procured and distributed more than 20 million pounds of food to people experiencing hunger through more than 400 partner agencies. Agencies include food pantries, neighborhood centers, low-income housing sites, senior nutrition centers, family crisis centers, hospices, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after school programs and day care centers.

In addition to food distribution, the NH Food Bank leads innovative programming that helps fight the root causes of hunger by empowering people to learn new skills, enabling them to become more self-sufficient.

For more information about the New Hampshire Food Bank, please visit https://nhfoodbank.org/. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn and X.