Philanthropic Efforts to Confront the Food Insecurity Challenge

Shared Value

Yes: Since it became a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2011, F4 has taken unprecedented steps to eradicate hunger in America. The agency provides education about food insecurity and hunger needs; it coordinates strategic and innovative food recovery and production processes; and it designs, installs, and leads non-perishable food drives. To date, F4 has provided access to food across 36 states and provinces. Brenda Russell is Executive Director.

But F4 is not stepping out alone in these efforts. Meet philanthropists and fellow foodies Table-to-Table and the HealthBarn Foundation, both of New Jersey.

Common Starts

Table-to-Table was founded in 1999 by Claire Insalata Poulos who ignited her effort with one donated van, four food donors, and three agencies that served hungry neighbors. Within months, T2T was distributing 5,000 fresh, nutritious meals to the needy in Bergen County. Claire has retired and today, Ilene Isaacs is Executive Director.

The HealthBarn Foundation was created in 2015 with just $5,000 to gift nutritious meals for families with children undergoing cancer treatments at Tomorrow's Children’s Fund (TCF) at Hackensack University Medical Center. By 2018, volunteers had cooked over 9,000 meals, soups, and snacks for TCF families and for families at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. Stacey Antine, MS, RDN, is the Founder and Director of the non-profit.

Common Denominators

The lamps are different but the light is the same. - Rumi

Tantamount to each agency's food focus is teaching, albeit in different forms.

F4 educates audiences about food insecurity and hunger needs in America and beyond via presentations in schools, symposiums, churches, corporations, on TV and radio, and across social media.

The HealthBarn Foundation makes funding available for schools that need financial assistance for interactive enrichment programs including Try It, You’ll Like It and the Super Salad Bar. One program teaches students to identify and taste foods in the five food groups. The other program emphasizes agriculture: students identify fruits and vegetables, the season they are harvested, and then make their own nutritious meal from the salad bar.

Table to Table recognized the students at Cherry Hill Elementary School (River Edge, NJ) with the 2021 Bernard and Geraldine Segal Foundation Award for Student Philanthropy. The students (pre-k through grade 6) supported T2T's Bag a Lunch, Help a Bunch initiative by raising enough funds to provide 52,860 meals to the hungry.

Many Hands Make Light Work

F4 has a broad scope of partners that support its mission of eradicating hunger. Financial partners support F4's basic operations (insurance, technology, marketing). Food Rescue and Non-perishable Food Drive Partners provide support to local agencies that feed the hungry. F4 establishes new partnerships on a continuing basis.

In 2020, the HealthBarn Foundation in partnership with the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce purchased an average of 12,000 ready-to-eat meals from 20 participating restaurants weekly. This Feed the Frontlines initiative helped to qualify the Foundation for a 2022 grant award from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The grant program focuses on the food insecure and the local restaurant industry. Additional leadership joined the effort including the Bergen County Food Security Task Force; the non-profit BergenVolunteers; and Door Dash which is providing professional drivers to the meal deliveries team.

Table to Table acknowledges that the power of partnerships helped the agency to become efficient and effective. Early partners included Whole Foods Market; Good Shepard Mission; and American Express. Today, T2T “rescues” food from almost 200 supermarkets, food distributors, restaurants and commercial kitchens and delivers it to more than 250 community organizations, including food pantries, food banks, shelters, day care/after school programs, and senior centers serving people who are food insecure throughout Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey.

Dozens of partners, hundreds of volunteers, and three community organizations add up to one shared value: service the needy. We do it with food, finances, and friends. You can too.

We'll always be hungry for more...

Article Written by Barbara Stratton

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