Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Thursday, April 2, 2015
(BLOOMINGTON) - The Hoosier Hills Food Bank, which serves Lawrence County, had a record distribution year in 2014.
According to the report, the food bank, based in Bloomington, distributed more than 4 million pounds of food in 2014, an average of over 8 tons of food each day they were open.
26 percent of the total food distributed was fresh produce, a major increase from 2013.
Another achievement was winning a $60,000 grant the food bank from Walmart to supply peanut butter and jelly to one local food pantry for a year.
Executive Director Julio Alonso says local retail donations accounted for almost half of the food distributed. And there was a 10 percent decrease in the amount of food donated by community members.
According to the national food bank network Feeding Indiana, 15.7 percent of Hoosiers were food insecure in 2014. That's more than one million people.
The 2015 Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the food bank's biggest food drive, will be on May 9.
Of the nearly 100 agencies the Hoosier Hills Food Bank partners with to provide food, Alonso says, about half have reported that they still need more for their clients.
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