From January through November, the food bank surpassed its distribution levels from 2013. It has already distributed 3,701,809 pounds of food, according to a news release from the food bank.
The distribution total for 2013 was 3,699,658 pounds of food.
November also marked the food bank’s 32nd anniversary and the highest distribution month in its history, with a total distribution of 442,511 pounds of food.
“This year has been amazing,” said Julio Alonso, executive director of the food bank, in the release. “We’ve now had the three highest months in our history during a single year.”
He added that the food bank is looking to breaking the record for the highest amount of fresh produce distributed in a year, as well.
“We’ve already broken our record, we’re running 9 percent ahead of last year and, if that holds, we’re likely to top 4 million pounds for the first time ever, and we’re closing in on distributing over a million pounds of fresh produce,” he said.
At the end of November, the food bank had distributed 985,449 pounds of produce, according to the release, an increase of 35 percent from last year.
The food bank’s four mobile pantry sites also set new records for distribution, and a record number of senior citizens were provided with commodity food boxes.
More than 850 low-income senior citizens were provided with commodity food boxes that were supplemented with fresh produce, including 190 in Monroe County alone.
The HHFB Families First Mobile Pantry served nearly 700 families in Bedford, Mitchell, Orleans and Shoals.
With the passing of Thanksgiving, the food bank is now looking forward to providing more families with the help they need during the Christmas season.
“We can’t afford turkeys and hams, but we got a lot of other good food out to our agencies and clients for Thanksgiving, and we’re happy about that,” Alonso said. “I hope we can repeat it for Christmas, but we’re definitely counting on a lot of support this month.”
Now that the distribution record has been broken, Alonso said the food bank is looking for more donations to continue helping the community.
“We’re ordering another 40,000 pounds of potatoes, and we’re hoping our peanut butter and jelly order comes in soon, but we need a lot more food and a lot more funds if we’re going to meet December’s demand,” he said.
In October, the food bank was awarded a $60,000 grant as part of Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together campaign.
Hoosier Hills was selected as one of the top 50 food banks participating in the campaign and received community support and votes via socaial media.
The award secured funding to purchase supplies to make a quarter of a million peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for ?distribution.
HHFB collects and distributes millions of pounds of food annually to about 100 nonprofit agencies in Monroe and five surrounding counties.
Holly Hays
