Harvest Regional Food Bank Hits Milestone in Hunger Relief
Harvest Regional Food Bank in Texarkana, recently hit a milestone for hunger relief in southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas. After years of working to bring more hunger relief to their underserved and rural counties, Harvest Regional Food Bank is able to announce that every county in its service area is now considered 'Adequately Served', as measured by Feeding America standards for meals provided to persons in poverty (MPIN). A “Going Green” media event and reception will take place on Monday, June 10th at 1pm, at Harvest Regional Food Bank, 3120 East 19th Street, Texarkana AR 71854.
Throughout the year, Harvest Regional Food Bank, along with its fellow Feeding America food banks, receives a report indicating the percentage of Meals per Person in Need (MPIN) provided by the food bank, in each county. Counties are considered Adequately Served, or “Green” if the food bank provides at least 50% of the Meals Needed Per Person in Need.
Counties that fall below that threshold are considered Inadequately Served, or “Red.” “Many food banks struggle to meet the 50% threshold in every county they serve, especially if those counties are rural, carry a high rate of poverty, and have very limited resources,” according to Camille Wrinkle, Executive Director. “To have an all green service area has been a goal of Harvest Regional Food Bank for several years. It symbolizes that a food bank is not just distributing food, it is distributing food where it needs to go.”
Harvest attributes the increase to expanding programs such as their Mobile Pantry Program, which serves food insecure individuals in rural areas, directly from Harvest trucks, reaching over 120 families at each event. Harvest has also seen an increase in the number of pantries and childhood hunger programs, which receive food from the Food Bank.
“We are very pleased with progress of our food distribution across all our counties,” says Mike Ingram, Harvest Board President. “We hope to provide even more food and services to Southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas in the coming years. We are very proud of our Harvest team and volunteers for this important accomplishment.”