NOURISH NOW FOUNDATION, INC. (NOURISH NOW) IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT WAS FOUNDED AND INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND IN MAY 2011. NOURISH NOW'S MISSION IS TO SOLVE TWO MAJOR SOCIAL ISSUES SIMULTANEOUSLY: FOOD WASTE AND HUNGER. BY RECOVERING FOOD FROM RESTAURANTS, CATERERS, BAKERIES, FARMS, CAFETERIAS, AND OTHER PROVIDERS, NOURISH NOW ENSURES THAT THE COLLECTED FOOD IS DISTRIBUTED DIRECTLY TO FAMILIES IN NEED, AT-RISK YOUTH, SHELTERS, FOOD PANTRIES, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT ASSIST IN FEEDING THOSE WHO SUFFER FROM FOOD INSECURITY. NOURISH NOW HAS BEEN GRANTED AN EXEMPTION FROM FEDERAL INCOME TAXES UNDER SECTION 501 (C) (3) OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.

Nourish Now aspires to actively meet the needs of those facing food insecurity here in Montgomery County and beyond. We envision a community structured around the importance of understanding the millions of pounds of fresh food that go into landfills worldwide. We want to educate the community and food distributors. Restaurants of can help fight food waste and hunger by creating solid partnerships and understanding the need for food recovery to cut down on waste and provide immense value and surplus to individuals, families, seniors, and veterans in need. By giving extra food, we help our neighbors have additional funds to live richer lives. We won't stop until hunger is a thing of the past.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Our goal is to further our Multicultural Program and expand our reach and capacity to serve families in need throughout Montgomery County and the DMV.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: By expanding our reach in the County and D.M.V., we grow our partnerships. We can expand our reach and educate more on the importance of food waste, recovery, and food insecurities in our community.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Three: Our local community and beyond have a solid need to recover freshly prepared meals and fresh produce and quickly get it back to individuals and families in need.

Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.

Describe an investment in leadership

Our Board member and CFO donated more than 250 hours to train and develop staff members to take on higher potions and higher-level tasks within the organization. Thus resulting in growth, mentorship, and fostering connection and internal connection. Our Vice President has helped professionally develop our Development Officer to help propel her into a salary position with the tile of Director of Development.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Nourish Now uses a comprehensive platform to communicate and engage in strategic partnerships. We have built strong relationships with community members, foundations, civic organizations, nonprofits, local schools, County, state, and government agencies. We continue to grow and foster strong food partnerships in the County and the D.M.V. as well. Nourish Now successfully achieves its mission to solve food waster and hunger. We have a well-versed and robust set of board members, highly skilled staff, strong leadership in our food warehouse and logistical team. We continue to speak to community members and organizations and work daily to understand the need for support in our direct community and at the state level.

Nourish Now has adapted tremendously over the past year. Before the pandemic, an estimated 70,000 Montgomery County, Maryland residents were considered food insecure. Today, the figure is estimated at 100,000 by the Montgomery Food Council and projects the figure to be 140,000 by the end of 2021. Because of the negative economic impact of COVID-19, those in dire need have been depending on high-fat, fast food, which can have adverse health effects. With the COVID-19 crisis affecting Montgomery County and the Washington, DC metro region, as well as the rest of the world, area residents who have lost their jobs or already have been living in shelters or are homeless are now in even more dire need of help. Among residents in communities struggling with even deeper food insecurity due to the COVID-19 crisis are children who no longer have access to the Free and Reduced Meals Program (FARM), which has been suspended. To help residents overcome this food insecurity and to offer them an alternative to fast food, Nourish Now the developed the Multi-Cultural Mobile Food Assistance Program in Spring 2020. Since then, we have distributed more than 8.2 million pounds of healthful food to more than 400,000 area residents struggling with food insecurity, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The Multi-Cultural Mobile Food Assistance Program distributes food to a dozen sites throughout Montgomery County. Among these sites are houses of worship, COVID-19 vaccination locations that are in lower income areas, and government housing developments. At the sites, we provide Family Relief Boxes consisting of prepared meals and fresh produce for a family of four for five days. A total of 100% of those whom we serve through our Multi-Cultural Mobile Food Assistance Program have low-moderate-incomes. To identify those neighborhoods in which these residents in need live, we use data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Montgomery County Government regarding low income and high unemployment.