Food Bank for the Heartland COVID Report

COVID-19 REPORT

MARCH 15, 2020 – MARCH 31, 2021

COVID-19 Response Across the Heartland: 4-Pronged Approach 1. Network Partners Diana Bodnar misses the personal interactions with clients at Hope West Food Pantry. Diana is one of five coordinators who operate the west Omaha food pantry out of Rejoice Lutheran Church. Like most of Food Bank for the Heartland’s 610 network partners, Hope West has converted its distribution to a drive-through model during the pandemic to prioritize the health and safety of the community.

When Hope West opened in 2017, it served approximately 30 households at each distribution. During the pandemic, that number grew to 60 households then peaked at 95 households around November and December in 2020.

Hope West has increased its distributions of fresh food items and shelf-stable goods from monthly to weekly to continue to meet the staggering need.

Network partners across the Food Bank’s 93-county service area continue to experience a significant increase in attendance at their distributions as more families than ever are food insecure.

Individuals and families from Omaha and surrounding areas have been coming to Hope West seeking emergency food during the pandemic. Many had never been to a food pantry before and were so grateful to the support. The volunteers at Hope West serve their clients with respect and compassion.

We are a younger pantry, and Food Bank for the Heartland has made it easy for us. We are grateful for the guidance and support during COVID. The Food Bank hosts monthly Zoom meetings for network partners. It is nice to talk with other pantries, ask questions, and share best practices. The pandemic has been an eye-opening experience and taught a lot of lessons. We need to help one another. There is a new appreciation for what food pantries do.

Diana Bodnar, Coordinator at Hope West Food Pantry in Omaha, NE

The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic and half of the Food Bank staff move to remote work.

3.11

12 1/2 months of community support...

2020

MARCH

Food Bank reduces volunteer capacity by 50% in the Volunteer Center to allow for social distancing and puts other safety measures in place for volunteers and staff members.

3.13

APRIL

MAY

Disruptions in the supply chain make it challenging for the Food Bank to obtain some shelf-stable and fresh items required to meet the increased need. The Food Bank’s food sourcing team swiftly adapts to find other options.

3.30

2. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) The application for Nebraska’s Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program (P-EBT) was available from June 15 to July 15, 2020. Food Bank for the Heartland’s SNAP team completed a staggering 2,429 P-EBT applications during that time. The team continues to work tirelessly to help families navigate the evolving eligibility requirements and application process for SNAP benefits.

In June 2020, our Nebraska SNAP hotline reached the highest number of applications with 2,169. Our Iowa SNAP hotline reached its peak in March 2021 with 1,160 applications.

From March 2020 to March 2021, our SNAP team, including network partners and Department of Corrections, completed 13,908 SNAP and/or P-EBT applications in Nebraska and 12,600 SNAP applications in Iowa.

Food Bank for the Heartland launches the Mobile BackPack program in the Omaha metro to provide critical meals to children impacted by school closures.

3.20

JUNE

JULY

Governor Ricketts deploys Nebraska National Guard to Food Bank of the Heartland and Food Bank of Lincoln for seven weeks.

4.21

The Food Bank hosts a drive-up community food drive, and more than 550 vehicles donate 24,837 pounds of shelf-stable food.

5.2

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

Drive-up mobile pantry in Grand Island provides 984 free community packs—the largest single-day distribution in Food Bank for the Heartland's history.

5.9

I’ve been out of work for a couple weeks, and this (SNAP) is something that would help a lot until I can find a new job. It’s been hard though to find a job with the coronavirus, but I’ve kept up hope that it will get better. I also applied to tons of jobs in my area but no luck yet. I’m running out of food and it’s really scary because I don’t know what to do. Thank you for your time.

Client in Douglas County applying for SNAP benefits

Food Bank for the Heartland begins distributing fresh produce, dairy, and protein through the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program.

6.1

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Applications for Nebraska’s P-EBT (Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer) become available through July 15.

6.15

After renting three refrigerated trailers in April to accommodate for the rapid increase in need, the Food Bank purchases two additional trailers to store cold food items.

8.26

DECEMBER

The Food Bank completes the installation of a new racking system at its warehouse, providing a ~30% increase in capacity. Despite this increase, finding the space required to serve the sustained need remains a significant challenge.

12.30

2021

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue joins Governor Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Steve Wellman, and Congressman Don Bacon in touring Food Bank for the Heartland.

9.4

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Agencies throughout our service area see a significant reduction in the availability of USDA Farmers to Families boxes. Using CARES Act and philanthropic funding, Food Bank for the Heartland begins purchasing items to continue providing fresh produce and dairy items to those in need.

The Food Bank’s 20th Annual Celebrity Chef fundraiser goes virtual for the first time. Guests cooked alongside Chef Curtis Stone from the comfort of their own homes while participating in an online auction and donating funds to support our mission.

3.4

MARCH

11.1

…and counting!

3. Mobile Pantry Program Food Bank for the Heartland’s Mobile Pantry program directly serves families by bringing fresh and shelf-stable food to urban, suburban, and rural communities that have a high concentration of need but relatively low levels of pantry assistance for a one-day distribution.

To safely continue bringing food to communities in need during the pandemic, the Mobile Pantry program shifted to a drive-through distribution model where volunteers load community packs filled with an assortment of shelf-stable items along with fresh produce, bread, and dairy products directly into awaiting vehicles.

The Food Bank has collaborated to host 385 mobile pantries in 42 counties. We doubled the number of households served across all mobile pantry distributions.

There is a diverse need here. At Tabitha’s Thread, we have worked hard to build trust in the community, which allows us to have better conversations about the needs our families face. We want to connect them with the necessary resources.

Rachel Austin, Director of Tabitha’s Thread Ministry in Weeping Water, NE

4. Mobile BackPack and BackPack Programs

3.15.20 3.31.21

Feeding the need

After schools in the Omaha metro closed due to COVID-19 in March 2020, Food Bank for the Heartland worked with local school officials and other partners to identify gaps in service and swiftly coordinated and launched the Mobile BackPack program. This program offered free meal bags to children. Each bag contained five breakfast servings and five lunch servings, including fresh milk and produce.

38,275,033

1,413,835 Individuals Served

Volunteer Hours Donated

An 89% increase over the average of the previous four years

A 73% increase over the average of the previous four years

The equivalent of 15 full-time employees

The Mobile BackPack program ran from March 20 to August 7, 2020 and served 421,175 critical children’s meals. During the pandemic, we have distributed 1.63 million Mobile BackPack and traditional BackPack meals to children.

1,628,823

$16,421,274 Spent by the Food Bank

137,931

Community Packs Assembled

Through the Mobile and traditional BackPack programs

To purchase fresh and shelf-stable food items

The equivalent of 3.8 million pounds of food

Some schools in communities outside the Omaha metro continued receiving traditional BackPack meals for children throughout the spring and summer in 2020. The Food Bank’s conventional BackPack program resumed for most schools when the school year began last fall. Currently, we are distributing 8,464 packs of meals to children in 256 schools across 112 school districts in Nebraska and western Iowa. Each meal pack is assembled by dedicated volunteers at the Food Bank.

The BackPack program has always been important but especially this year. I’ve never had more students request food. They are thrilled and relieved to know they will have meals to eat over the weekend. Kids can fix the food themselves if their parents are working, and the items are shelf stable. I’m grateful to Food Bank for the Heartland for this program. Without it, I don’t know what some of our students would do.

Debi Jaeke, Counselor, Omaha Public Schools

10525 J Street, Omaha, NE 68127 www.FoodBankHeartland.org

@FoodBankHeartland

@Food4Heartland

Meals Provided

BackPack Meals Provided to Children

28,982

Looking Ahead In Food Bank for the Heartland’s 40-year history, we have never experienced a hunger crisis like the current one caused by the pandemic. As we look forward, we are encouraged by signs of relief. However, we know the devastating impacts of COVID-19 upon those facing food insecurity across the Heartland will linger well beyond the pandemic. Meeting this need will require further innovation, partnership, and support.

Food Bank for the Heartland remains committed to ensuring access to healthy food for our neighbors in need. As we move into the next twelve months and beyond, we will focus on growing our ability to provide critical resources to those facing hunger— through strengthening relationships with our network partners across Nebraska and western Iowa, leveraging technology to improve processes, expanding our team, and increasing our capacity.

We continue to be humbled by the community’s outpouring of kindness during this crisis. The support of our donors, volunteers, partners, board, and staff—as well as from our local, state, and federal governments— has played a vital role in helping families throughout the Heartland. Thank you!

Watch a video and learn more about our COVID-19 response at https://FoodBankHeartland.org/COVID19/.