Letter from Kent

Do you ever ask yourself why you go to work each morning? I know I do. This morning, in fact, I asked myself that question when the alarm went off and I wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. But today, as I do every day, I gave myself over 70,000 reasons to roll out of bed and get about the business of helping the food insecure of northwest Arkansas. That in a nutshell is why I do it. No one should have to go hungry. What you might not know is how I go about serving those neighbors in need. Hopefully after reading this, you will have a better grasp of what role the NWAFB plays in the fight against hunger.

I cannot tell you how many times over the past 18 months someone has come up to me and after hearing what I do for a living immediately states, “Oh, I understand, I volunteer at my church’s food bank.” While I appreciate their efforts to volunteer, technically they are volunteering for their church’s food pantry. The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is the only food bank in our four county service area. There is only one of us. By contrast there are over 150 food pantries being housed at churches or free standing. These partner agencies are the hands of our mission. Our mission is over-reaching. We get food, we distribute it to the Food Pantries or Feeding services and they in turn give it to the food insecure. Just yesterday, in a first time meeting with a local resident, I was told many people assume that we are just a giant food pantry. That is not what we are at all. As a person with 40 plus years marketing background, that tells me we have not done a very good job telling our story. Most partner agencies get over 85% of what they distribute from us. I dare say, without the food bank, the food pantries would not and could not exist.

In 2016 the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank distributed over 11.4 million pounds of food. We are on pace to exceed 12 million pounds in 2017. That food comes from a variety of sources. Over 4 million pounds of it comes from a retail rescue program. We pick up food that is not sold in a grocery store, but still consumable, sort and package it for distribution to the Food Pantries. We receive production overruns, are the beneficiary of food drives, distribute some food provided by federal and state programs and still have to buy food to have enough to meet the need. Like all businesses we have overhead and costs of operation. We are proud of the fact that the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is the third most efficient food bank of our size in the Feeding America organization, so when you get that mailing asking for a donation, see our ad in the newspaper or our commercial on television, know that we are good stewards of your money and that…..

…Because of you someone will eat today.

Thanks for all you do.

Kent