Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee

The mission of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee (SHFB) is to provide food to people facing hunger and work to advance hunger solutions. Approximately 353,160 people in 46 Tennessee counties receive food from SHFB each year. Food is distributed through 420 not-for-profit agencies such as senior centers, treatment facilities, low-income daycare centers, and food pantries. SHFB operates an Emergency Food Box program in Davidson County that helps individuals and families with emergency food needs. SHFB's Children's Feeding Programs provide low-income children with a nutritious evening meal or a Backpack bag of food for the weekend when school meals are not available. Our Grocery Rescue Program picks up food products from 350 grocery stores and distributes them to Partner Agencies in our service area. The Project Preserve Program purchases and manufactures millions of pounds of food for distribution to agencies in Middle Tennessee as well as to food banks across the country.

A Community Where No One is Hungry.

Goal One: Develop people and nurture a culture of inclusion where all feel a sense of belonging.

Goal Two: Establish innovative, collective work that drives transformational change for our neighbors addressing and facing hunger.

Goal Three: Invest in technology, logistics, and transportation to strengthen our ability to serve more effectively and efficiently.

Leaders at all levels of Second Harvest's 136-employee team are crucial to the success, growth, and execution of our mission. Leaders set the direction, tone, and potential of every project. Second Harvest's Leadership Development serves as an investment in our staff and our role in our community at large. We formed a Diversity Equity Inclusion & Belonging Committee (DEIB) with a group of mission-driven employees interested in promoting an inclusive culture. A DEIB Specialist position was created for oversight. The DEIB Specialist worked with a diversity consultant at Career Thrivers in the initial discovery process of our DEIB Plan. DEIB training has been provided to every individual across the organization. Career Thrivers consultants conducted one-on-one interviews, focus groups, a culture survey, and landscape analysis. Findings resulting from this process and landscape Analysis were presented to Board members.

Second Harvest is focused on increasing the capacity of our Partner Agencies. This includes establishing an Agency Capacity competitive grant process for agencies to request grant funding for program needs. In addition, we are working with Partner Agencies to increase their capacity for retail agency pickup. This work includes assisting them in formalizing partnerships with local retailers and providing them with the necessary equipment, storage, and vehicles, to conduct grocery rescue. The numbers below show how much of a difference has been made in Middle and West Tennessee through our Grocery Rescue Program. --Second Harvest Direct Pounds Picked Up: 5,786,325 --Partner Agency-Enabled Pounds Picked Up: 5,826,343 --Total Pounds Picked up FY23: 11,612,668

Second Harvest works with our Partner Agencies to provide feeding programs in their community. These agencies do a great job of distributing food to those neighbors facing hunger. However, we have been working to develop a new program that supports underserved communities in our service area. Our new Mobile Market Program is focused on direct client distribution and is not dependent on physical locations. It can easily meet our neighbors where they are. Using data software, we have identified areas of high poverty and low access to grocery stores. The pilot will initially operate in Davidson County before expanding to surrounding and rural counties. The market will be based on a client choice model that allows individuals to shop for preferred foods to provide a greater sense of dignity. Client choice not only benefits the clients served but also mitigates food waste producing a high-efficiency, fiscally responsible model of service.