Our 2010 Strategic Partner:

Each year, the Board of Directors selects a charitable organization to adopt as a strategic partner for the year.  We are proud to announce that the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana has accepted our offer for 2010.  They will be featured at our upcoming conference where they’ll be kicking off their BackPack Program. 

The BackPack Program:

There are children in America that rely on resources such as free or reduced-priced school lunch, during the school year. The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Backpacks are filled with food that children take home on weekends. The food is child-friendly, nonperishable and easily consumed.  Backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation.   The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana will kick off their BackPack Program at our annual conference on April 14^th.  Brown bags will be available for attendees to donate $5. This $5 will be used to purchase food items to create a weekend backpack. This backpack, containing 6 meals and two snacks, is given to a child who is on the free/reduced lunch program, on their way out of school on Friday afternoon.  This guarantees they have food available to them through the weekend and can come to school on Monday ready to start their week of school. Here is some additional information about The Food Bank of Northwest Indana.The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana was founded in 1982. It was originally a barn, but has grown into a facility that acquires, stores and distributes 3.5 million pounds of food throughout Lake and Porter Counties. It is a USDA approved, primary distributor of food to local pantries, shelters, day care centers, and soup kitchens. For more than three decades, the Food Bank has served as a link for food relief to families, the elderly, children and other individuals. But, the vision of the Food Bank expands beyond providing assistance for this basic need to include a number of initiatives. We are developing space for community resource services such as nutrition education, job training, WIC and SNAP programming. We are also increasing the total amount and nutritional value of the food and grocery products we distribute each year. The Food Bank is training and equipping community agencies to engage in aggressive referral programs that will link individuals to support services that will address underlying causes of hunger such as unemployment, underemployment, lack of education and transportation. We provide and promote programs and services that will help educate and empower individuals to make healthy eating choices for themselves and their families. Finally, we are focused on improving the quality and level of service provided by each community agency in the Food Bank's network. The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana strives to reduce the impact of hunger through programs of advocacy, nutrition education and faith based partnerships.Our values are Integrity, Stewardship of Resources, Accountability, Service and Urgency.

Our Mission Statement:

The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana's mission is to provide nutritional support to those in need of hunger relief through its network of 100 community agencies across Lake and Porter Counties--with the ongoing focus of ending hunger and helping individuals in our community move towards self-sufficiency.  You can help us carry out our mission with:

• Financial donations
• Equipment you or your company no longer uses or that is being replaced
• Food from companies and food drives
• Volunteer assistance
• Spreading the word