A Food Bank is a nonprofit organization that collects food and donates it to hunger relief charities. Food banks act as a food warehouse for smaller agencies and usually do not give out food directly to people struggling with hunger.
Food banks in the U.S. range from small organizations serving people spread out across large rural areas to large facilities that store and distribute millions of pounds of food each year and many in between. A variety of factors impact how food banks work, from the size of the organization to the number of staff members. The one thing they all have in common is reliance on donors and volunteers to carry out their daily operations. In North Carolina, 1,503,050 people are struggling with hunger, 461,630 are children. NC has the 8th highest rate of food insecurity in the nation.
Where you can donate
Wells Fargo:
From November first to the end of December, Wells Fargo is collecting non-perishable food donations at all 5,300 branches and is collecting monetary donations at over 13,000 ATMs to help provide holiday meals for more families.
Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina:
The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina fights hunger in 34 countries. The Food Bank serves a network of more than 800 partner agencies such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters through distribution centers in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh, the Sandhills and Wilmington. They also have ongoing promotions such as Amazon smile where whatever you buy, Amazon donates a portion of it to the charity of your choice.
http://www.foodbankcenc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FBCENCHome
Interfaith Food Shuttle
Interfaith has a special holiday program called “Full Plates Full Hearts” that starts in November and goes through Dec. 31 with a goal of making 1.5 million meals available for children, families, and seniors. Each month over 59,000 adults and children rely on Inter-Faith Food Shuttle for the food they need to live. More families than ever are turning to inter faith during the holiday season and winter months.
Interfaith also has a special program for kids called backpack buddies. This is designed to provide children from low income homes with nutrious food. The Food Shuttle works with each school system and individual schools. School officials then identify students to receive BackPack Buddies. https://www.foodshuttle.org/fullplates
Holly Springs Food Cupboard
The Holly Springs Food Cupboard was founded in 2009 and received a grant from the Town of Holly Springs in 2018. They take donations Mondays and Thursdays and give out food on Thursdays. They are also partnered with Amazon smile and have many sponsors. To subscribe to their newsletter and/or donate use the link below.
