Vermont Foodbank

In fiscal year 2023, the Vermont Foodbank distributed 12.6 million pounds of donated food, produce, usda foods, and purchased food directly to individuals and more than 220 network partners. Of that, a record 4.1 million pounds was fresh fruits and vegetables. And a full 49% of the food distributed was fresh food (produce, meat, and dairy). The Vermont Foodbank also worked with more than 200 Vermont farms to gather and share more than 1.5 million pounds of local food worth over $2.4 million. During the same period, the Foodbank funded more than 480 grants totaling almost $2.7m to network and community partner organizations. These grants, which touched every county in Vermont, deepened our impact and helped solve targeted challenges to food access in local communities (examples include increasing refrigeration capacity to enabling purchasing fresh produce from local, small-scale farms). The Foodbank worked with more than 21 partners, hospitals, and schools to host fresh food distribution events, primarily drive-thru, across all Vermont counties, distributing fresh foods to an average of 7600 households a month. The Vermont Foodbank continues to see significant increases in expenses over pre-pandemic budgets. However, increases in revenue enabled the Vermont Foodbank to confidently increase its expenses to meet a tremendous increase in food insecurity in Vermont, brought on by the global pandemic. Revenue in fiscal year 2023 met projections, mainly through private philanthropy and a $2m appropriation from the state of Vermont. A 2022 study by the university of Vermont shows that 2 in 5 people in Vermont have experienced food insecurity in the 12 months prior. This data is supported by 2022 data shared by the usda. These studies show that food insecurity is far higher than the 9.6% food insecurity rate Vermont saw before the cascading crises of the past three years, and is also higher than at any point in 2020 or 2021. This summer's catastrophic flooding around the state created an additional crisis for our neighbors experiencing hunger and has put additional pressure on the charitable and emergency food network. This level of need is beyond what our network of community organizations was built to address. The need was made starker with the end of federal pandemic-era programs supporting our neighbors' nutrition needs. This was felt particularly strongly among neighbors who are least able to adjust quickly to these changing circumstances. Since snap (3squaresvt) emergency allotments ended in april 2023 (an average of $500/month in lost benefits per family, affecting 40,000 households), the Foodbank's network of food pantries, food shelves, and meal sites has seen a marked increase in visits. In june 2023, vf distributed 988,913 lbs. Of food. In august it was 1.42 million lbs. - a 44% increase. We anticipate that this level of need will continue to remain high, especially in flood impacted regions.the Vermont Foodbank, the state's only food bank, is an integral part of emergency response in the state of Vermont. Increased revenue has enabled the Vermont Foodbank to: purchase more food to meet the needs of neighbors, including an increase in local food purchases; increase the percentage of fresh foods (fruits, vegetables, dairy and proteins) being distributed state-wide; provide increased, direct financial support to community partners, including food shelves, farms, and food access programs (often smaller non-profits without capacity for fundraising and/or grant management); create new food distribution mechanisms to both meet increased needs and do so safely in the midst of the global pandemic; invest in new ideas to increase food access (hopefully reducing future need for larger-scale emergency response); and to have necessary reserves to continue to serve as an integral part of both "normal and emergency response charitable food distribution/food access in the state of Vermont.