Little Bites of Second Helpings News • Spring 2024
Second Helpings delivers 20 millionth meal In August, we delivered our 20,000,000th meal as part of our ongoing mission to address hunger today and build self-sufficiency to prevent hunger tomorrow. This milestone speaks to our exponential growth throughout our 26-year history. In fact, it took us five years, 1998-2003, to prepare and deliver our first million meals. In more recent history, we have consistently delivered more than one million meals each year. Throughout our history, the types of meals we offer have also expanded. We now prepare three kinds of meals: pans of meals to serve in a group setting, individually-wrapped sandwiches, and meals packaged in individual- and family-size servings. Moreover, since 2020, Second Helpings has also prepared meals for a community home-delivery program (a collaborative effort with Gleaners Food Bank and Nine13 Logistics). Last year, Second Helpings sent more meals to that home delivery program than we did to any of our largest partner organizations. Our Hunger Relief team continues to diversify the kinds of meals we provide, knowing that our partners and their clients depend on our meals every day.
As we remain focused on the quality and variety of our meals, we do expect this growth to continue, as it is part of a long trend. Second Helpings delivered our ten millionth meal in July 2016, after 18 years of production. Just eight years later, we’ve doubled our meal count. The Indy Hunger Network estimates that 31% of Marion County residents, nearly a third of our neighbors, need food assistance. IHN’s 2023 Hunger Study found that “hunger was at its highest level in the last decade.” “It’s an honor to serve the community in this way, and we couldn’t do it without our 100+ partners who ensure that the meals we produce and deliver are put to good use,” CEO Linda Broadfoot said. “But we can also never forget that this growth also represents a need in our community that continues to grow, and it is incumbent upon all of us as a community to continue fighting to ensure that no one goes hungry.” We’re incredibly grateful to our community for the support and partnership as we strive to reduce hunger. Together, we’ll continue working towards our vision of a community where everyone has enough nourishing food and ample opportunities to thrive.