Utah Food Bank is the major hub for food collection and distribution in Utah, providing 43. 3 million pounds of food across all 29 counties in Fiscal Year 2018 alone. We fight hunger through two primary routes: first by providing food to local agency partners and food pantries across the state, free of any charges or fees, to ensure that all Utahns have a local emergency food assistance partner if they need it. Second, we provide direct-service programs for school-aged children, families, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Utah Food Bank is the only organization committed to ensuring that every person facing hunger in Utah has access to emergency food assistance; that’s approximately 382,000 children, adults, and seniors throughout 84,899 square miles of challenging terrain.

To accomplish our goal of Fighting Hunger Statewide, last year alone we partnered with 150 food pantries and agency partners, provided food through programs in partnership with over 200 schools, libraries, after-school programs, and senior services, and traveled 479,224 miles last year alone. Unlike most food banks, and any food bank our size, we provide this service without fees of any kind to our partners. We also fight hunger through direct service programs: Kids Cafe prepares and delivers nutritious meals to children in after-school programs; BackPack Program distributes child-friendly food packs to at-risk children to ensure hunger-free weekends; and the Mobile School Pantry program provides brick-and-mortar pantry services for students and their families right at their neighborhood school. The Food Box program delivers monthly supplemental food boxes to the homes of low-income seniors and people with disabilities, and our Mobile Pantry Program provides isolated, under-served communities with access to food pantries where none exist. Nearly all the food used in these programs comes from community food drives, commercial donations, and our Grocery Rescue Program, which picks up fresh food from retail food outlets and distributes it to local pantries. Last year alone, we distributed 43,298,602 pounds of food—the equivalent of nearly 36. 1 million meals—to adults and children facing hunger throughout our state. Utah Food Bank depends heavily on volunteer support; last year, we benefited from 101,022 donated volunteer hours—the equivalent work of 49 full-time employees. Every dollar donated is leveraged into $7. 84 of goods and services and only 4% of our budget went to administrative and fundraising costs.

Utah Food Bank’s approach to ensure sustainability of all programs over time is comprehensive and multifaceted. In order to continue delivery of services at the current standard, or to grow a program due to increased need, a variety of funding sources are required--corporate, government, foundation, and general public contributions. Utah Food Bank seeks funding for programs such as the Mobile School Pantry program through grant writing, direct mail campaigns, special events, and corporate sponsorship. The entire staff at Utah Food Bank, and more specifically the Development team, is dedicated and active in seeking support from this variety of sources. Over the last three years, the number of individuals, foundations, corporations and government organizations that have made yearly gifts to Utah Food Bank is up by seven percent. This increased support has allowed Utah Food Bank to grow its programs while providing them with increased financial stability. With the continued support of Utah’s private and business communities and a carefully planned development approach, Utah Food Bank is confident of securing ample funds to support the future of its programs.

Utah Food Bank works closely with our partners and uses a variety of instruments and redundancies and so that we can report with certainty on the amount of food we provide, the location where the food assistance is provided, and the recipients of that food. We face several challenges to obtaining additional data, particularly cost, the difficulty of arriving at unduplicated numbers (as so many clients utilize from a variety of UFB-supported assistance organizations) and the very real concern that amassing recipient data will result in hungry people not accessing the food assistance they need. Our staff and partner agencies hear the powerful impact and necessity of ensuring that struggling children and adults have access to food assistance when they are facing hunger. We work to remain current on research on the impact of hunger in all areas of life. Unfortunately, we do not have the staff and financial resources to formally evaluate long- and short-term efficacy of that assistance.

Utah Food Bank Fights Hunger Statewide by collecting, purchasing, and distributing food to hungry Utahns through 149 food pantries and agency partners. We also fight hunger through direct service programs: Kids Cafe prepares and delivers nutritious meals to children in after-school programs; BackPack Program distributes child-friendly food packs to at-risk children to ensure hunger-free weekends; and the Mobile School Pantry program provides brick-and-mortar pantry services for students and their families right at their neighborhood school. The Food Box program delivers monthly supplemental food boxes to the homes of low-income seniors and people with disabilities, and our Mobile Pantry Program provides isolated, under-served communities with access to food pantries where none exist. Nearly all the food used in these programs comes from community food drives, commercial donations, and our Grocery Rescue Program, which picks up fresh food from retail food outlets and distributes it to local pantries. Last year alone, we distributed 43,298,602 opunds of food—the equivalent of nearly 36. 1 million meals—to adults and children facing hunger throughout our state. Utah Food Bank depends heavily on volunteer support; last year, we benefited from 101,022 donated volunteer hours—the equivalent work of 49 full-time employees. Every dollar donated is leveraged into $7. 84 of goods and services and only 4% of our budget went to administrative and fundraising costs.