2008 Second Harvest North Florida Annual Report

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida 2007-08 Annual Report

Jacksonville’s hunger problem isn’t this obvious.

Does it have to be?

WeNourishHope.org

Asking

If Jacksonville’s hunger problem were this obvious, maybe you’d know about it.

There’s a hunger crisis happening right here in Jacksonville, and with the cost of living at an all-time high, it’s affecting more people every day.

When asked to help “the hungry,” people typically imagine a famine in some far-off place, but the reality is that many people who experience hunger are working, productive members of our community.

Many are parents and many more are children.

By working to end hunger, we can all play a part in making North Florida a better place to live, work and raise our families. To volunteer or donate, call 904.353.3663 or visit WeNourishHope.org.

TOUGH

Questions

Second Harvest Food Bank advertising campaign places focus on fight against hunger The Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida took a bold step in September 2008 when it launched an advertising campaign intended to heighten awareness about hunger in North Florida. The campaign sent a strong message which resulted in an unprecedented response in food donations, community food drives and funds donated over the final four months of the year.

The communications campaign integrated images of starving children using North Florida as a backdrop. By placing these hyperbolic faces of hunger at the beach or on a golf course with the headline “Jacksonville’s hunger problem isn’t this obvious. Does it have to be?” the campaign sent a strong message of action to the community — a message that hit its mark and in the process helped fill a vital need.

With shelves at the Food Bank nearly depleted by the overwhelming increase in demand, the First Coast answered the need

What do employees do when they can’t afford both gas and food?

They drive to work hungry.

904.353.FOOD

by donating more than 35,200 pounds of food per month from September through December, more than a 411 percent increase from the first three months of the year. Financial donations also increased by nearly 52 percent over the same time frame from a year earlier. More than 95 food drives were also held simultaneously in November and December — an all-time high.

“This was the most assertive, creative brand campaign that we have done,” Second Harvest Executive Director Wayne Rieley

said. “People need to know that there’s a hunger crisis happening right here in north Florida. And Second Harvest helps provide solutions to this problem.”

The campaign was created by Jacksonvillebased advertising agency On Ideas, which volunteered its creative services to produce the campaign and a total rebranding of the Food Bank.

On Ideas repositioned Second Harvest with a new logo and tagline “We Nourish Hope” prior to the launch of the campaign. The ad campaign was showcased in newspapers, magazines, radio advertising, billboards and bus wraps through the end of the year.

Joe Zelenka, a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, also volunteered his time to be a part of the campaign — serving as the spokesperson for all electronic advertising and a special Food Bank video.

www.WeNourishHope.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida 2007-08 Annual Report

The Mission

The mission of the Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida is to distribute food and grocery products to hungry people and to educate the public about the causes and possible solutions to problems of domestic hunger.

u Program Director:

History

Wayne Rieley rwrieley@wenourishhope.org

The program began as the Lutheran Social Services food program in 1979 and was known as the Nourishment Network. It became the LSS Food Bank in 1981 as its services expanded. In 1984, the Food Bank became a certified member of the national organization America’s Second Harvest, which is now called Feeding America. The program took on its current name, Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida, in January 2008.

u Program Founded:

1979 u 2007-08 Expenses:

$2,138,050 u 2008-09 Budget:

$2,840,122 u Employees:

How It Works

There are two basic components to the Second Harvest operation: 1) rescuing surplus food and purchasing food, and then redistributing it to local nonprofit organizations serving the hungry; 2) providing nutritious meals and healthy snacks to children from low-income families through community-based Kids Cafe sites.

Second Harvest is the link between food and agencies serving children, families, individuals and senior citizens in need. The majority of surplus food would be thrown away without this link. Financial contributions from individuals, businesses and special events enable Second Harvest to rescue and store donated food for pick up by more than 500 nonprofit organizations in 18 counties.

These organizations, which include homeless shelters, senior centers, youth and adult daycare facilities and church pantries, save millions of dollars each year by making use of the Second Harvest Food Bank. This allows agencies to spend more money on services to individuals in Jacksonville and surrounding areas and meet more than just basic needs.

Second Harvest receives food in many different ways. The Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is one key food assistance program. Other food contributions to the food banks come from private donors, public and private food drives, corporate donations, restaurants and grocery stores and from grocery wholesalers.

34 u Member Agencies:

516 u Pounds of

Food Distributed: 2007: 6,621,504 2008: 7,650,409

u Volunteers Info: 2007 Volunteers: 2,409 2008 Volunteers: 4,051

2007 Hours: 7,867 2008 Hours: 14,060 u More Information:

904.353.3663 (FOOD) u To Volunteer:

904.353.3663 (FOOD) u To Donate Food or

Host A Food Drive: 904.730.08238

By establishing relationships with large food suppliers like ConAgra, Second Harvest is also able to purchase an enormous volume and stretch each dollar donated to the Food Bank incredibly far.

Key Programs

Kids Cafe - Works in conjunction with agency host sites, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, faith organizations and after school programs, to offer children in low-income neighborhoods a safe place to find nourishment, meet role models and participate in positive activities.

Mobile Pantries - Distribute donated food directly to families in need in their own neighborhoods. A sponsoring group assists in identifying a distribution point and recruiting volunteers to assist in economically challenged neighborhoods.

BackPack Program - Designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Backpacks are filled with food that children take home on weekends. Food is child-friendly, nonperishable, easily consumed and vitamin fortified.

Emergency Relief - The Second Harvest Food Bank works within the structure of the Emergency Operations Center in Jacksonville in the event of a disaster. Second Harvest is responsible for providing water, ice and food products to distribution sites that are established by the EOC.

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida

2006-08 Poundage Distribution Comparison 2006 Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Annual Total

Donated 378,619 383,770 447,345 386,875 319,189 257,097 252,306 250,948 310,593 348,277 305,657 351,786 3,992,462

2007

USDA 144,886 138,312 295,650 137,701 203,264 406,920 88,989 296,760 104,502 179,012 153,734 112,614 2,262,344

Total 523,505 522,082 742,995 524,576 522,453 664,017 341,295 547,708 415,095 527,289 459,391 464,400 6,254,806

Donated 359,907 275,369 268,243 403,163 488,106 560,576 508,639 394,897 474,340 519,636 395,919 340,339 4,989,134

USDA 175,800 141,840 141,840 125,172 91,560 159,377 98,704 205,905 100,165 181,015 125,090 85,902 1,632,370

2008 Total 535,707 417,209 410,083 528,335 579,666 719,953 607,343 600,802 574,505 700,651 521,009 426,241 6,621,504

u Second Harvest distributed more than 7.6 million pounds of food to its 516 member agencies in 2007-08. That equates to more than more than 147,000 pounds distributed per week and more than 5.1 million combined meals. u The Kids Cafe program again had a successful year, operating at 65 combined sites during the school year and at 37 sites during the summer months. The Kids Cafe after-school snack program served 373,195 snacks from September-May. The Summer Meals Program served 55,408 lunches and 6,757 snacks. The program was recognized by Feeding America as among the largest in the nation for the second consecutive year. u The National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive was a rousing success — resulting in the collection of a record 283,000 pounds of donated food that was left by mailboxes around the First Coast and collected by postal workers (increase of more than 81,000 pounds from 2007).

USDA 133,571 97,256 124,754 122,781 176,906 266,638 211,877 119,503 158,550 268,647 174,283 282,952 2,137,718

Total 624,802 524,294 578,970 774,172 587,072 846,627 656,009 427,892 495,274 781,158 573,803 780,336 7,650,409

Second Harvest 18-County Service Area

Notables from 2007-08:

u The Second Harvest Food Bank saw demand increase nearly 32 percent in 2008, with economic factors playing a large role in the increase including elevated prices for gasoline, groceries and utilities, as well as an unstable job market.

Donated 491,231 427,038 454,216 651,391 410,166 579,989 444,132 308,389 336,724 512,511 399,520 497,384 5,512,691

u Of the $3,022,710 in revenue gernerated by the Food Bank in 2007-08, 30.06 percent was from federal/ state and local grants, 24.33 percent from fees for services, 18.2 percent from foundations and private grants, 10.24 percent from individual donations, 9.67 percent from special events, 4.95 percent from corporate donations, 1.97 percent from the United Way and the other .59 percent from miscellaneous sources. u Second Harvest benefited from three special events in 2007-08 — producing record returns at the 23rd Annual Empty Bowls Luncheon in November ($58,000, 900 in attendance), the Jacksonville FOODFIGHT in June (more than $75,000 and 1,200) and the Jacksonville Jaguars Taste of the NFL in September ($156,000 and 250). u America’s Second Harvest, a network of the nation’s food banks of which the Food Bank is a member, underwent a rebranding over the summer and launched its new look and name — Feeding America — in September with the beginning of Hunger Action Month.

2007-08 Annual Report

Alachua Baker Bradford Clay Columbia Dixie Duval Flagler Gilchrist Hamilton Lafayette Levy Madison Nassau Putnam St. Johns Suwannee Union

u Second Harvest held seven Mobile Pantry distributions in 2007-08, providing 155,588 pounds of food combined at the events, effectively helping to reach out to those in need by taking resources to their neighborhoods for direct distribution.

A New Vision For Solving The Issue of Hunger in North Florida Food is fundamentally important to people struggling to get from day to day in the face of financial crises. It is especially important to people in the current economy who have just recently found themselves needing assistance; receiving nutritious food allows them to spend precious financial resources on other basic living needs such as mortgages/rent, utilities and clothing and keeps their home life stable for as long as possible.

Despite our best efforts in the nearly 30 years since we began our mission to end hunger in north Florida, we have come to realize that simply collecting and distributing food will not solve the problem.

We must address root causes and intervene early.

In the past year, we noted a 32 percent increase in demand for food from our agencies to meet the increased need they are experiencing.

At the same time, we experienced a 40 percent decrease in food donations, particularly surplus food from our traditional national suppliers. To meet this increase demand, we have already begun supplementing the surplus food that we are able to recover with purchased food from other food banks in the Feeding America network.

We envision a new future for food banking in our community, one in which the Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida becomes an integral component to creating a healthy community. The lone homeless person may be the most conspicuous image of poverty in the national media. Less conspicuous, but part of a much larger group, are the families that cycle in and out of poverty. Families most at risk are those that are just a little better off than poor, surviving on low-wage jobs until suddenly they lose their financial footing because the main wage earner’s job has been eliminated or one of the family members has a medical condition, for example.

We have long-range plans for initiatives to help low-income families achieve and maintain self-sufficiency – emergency assistance to those in need, a garden-to-table mission and community outreach.

Emergency Assistance Based on the level of poverty in the 18 north Florida counties that we serve, we should be distributing 40 million pounds of food per year to meet the need. We are currently distributing seven to eight million pounds of food. Within the next five years, we hope to reach 20 million pounds of food. Serving those who are hungry and living in the rural areas of north Florida is much different and more challenging than those living in urban areas. We will need to identify new member agencies and increase the organizational capacity of key agencies to meet both rural and urban needs.

Garden to Table Mission Too many adults and children live in “food deserts,” those areas of our community, most often low-income, where only fast food and “fringe” food are available. As a result, children, in particular, subsist on diets that do not include fresh fruit and vegetables or other nutritious food. The result is higher percentages of obesity in children and adults, resulting in chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high rates of infant mortality, for example.

The Second Harvest Food Bank will develop a Nutrition Education Program to ensure that those in need have access to healthy food, especially fresh and frozen food. We will work with our member agencies to help them stress healthy eating, particularly by children.

We also envision cultivating a Community Garden to increase the quantity of food available to those in need in our community, provide hands-on nutrition education, increase self-sufficiency and promote community service opportunities.

Community Outreach We will collaborate with an area nonprofit in operating a Community Kitchen to provide economically disadvantaged adults with the job skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency. Recognizing that solving the immediate problem of hunger is only half the battle, the Community Kitchen will provide adults with food service skills that will allow them to find sustainable employment, while producing fresh, hot food that can be distributed to agencies that feed children and senior citizens.

Likewise, we will create a teaching environment in the Food Bank warehouse for incarcerated people nearing release and needing to become self-sufficient. We also plan to provide public assistance screening services for food stamps and Women, Infants and Children (WIC), for example, to help more people access services that can help them get back on their feet.

Our dreams are ambitious, as they must be, because the need is great, fundamentally important and increasing every day. The goal is simple, however; use the most cost-efficient means possible to gather the largest amounts of the most nutritious food we can to serve people who are hungry in north Florida.

Gathering food. Sharing Resources.

Serving People in Need. We Nourish Hope.

www.WeNourishHope.org