Program areas at Greater Cleveland Food Bank
The emergency Food assistance program (tefap) and commodity supplemental Food program (csfp) are federally funded programs through the u.s. department of agriculture that helps supplement the diets of low-income americans, including elderly people, by providing them with emergency Food and nutrition assistance at no cost. The usda products include cereals, vegetables and fruit, dry beans, fresh produce, and protein items. Greater Cleveland Food Bank receives and provides Food to our network of eligible partners. This year 5.7 million pounds of free Food was distributed.
Our kids cafe program is a federally funded program through the u.s. department of agriculture, child and adult care program (cacfp), and administered by the Ohio department of education(ode), office for safety, health and nutrition. Kids cafs provide free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of community partners where children already congregate during afterschool hours, such as boys and girls clubs, churches, public libraries or public schools. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank prepares these meals in our production kitchen; last year 349,019 meals at 92 different sites. All kids cafe programs also offer nutrition education throughout the school year. Nutrition programming is an essential way to educate kids on the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. Our nutritionist trains our educators on a curriculum based off the building blocks for healthy kids.
The Ohio Food purchase and agricultural clearance program is a state funded program administered by the Ohio association of foodbanks. The Ohio Food purchase products are processed Food items. These commodities are commercially available items although they may be produced expressly for this program. This program also includes available protein items within the Ohio commodity market. The agricultural clearance commodities, mostly fresh produce, are seasonal in nature, are highly perishable, and require refrigeration and immediate distribution. This year 4.3 million pounds of free Food was distributed to our network of eligible partners.
Supplemental nutrition assistance program, mobile pantries, school markets, senior markets, senior meal programs, backpack program, Food as a medicine program.