For over 20 years, the Mid-South Food Bank has worked to ensure that no Memphian will ever go hungry. Every week, thousands of people depend on food from the Mid-South Food Bank for their very next meal. And the Mid-South Food bank depends on the generosity and support of this community to help in the fight against huger.

The Mid-South Food Bank is a major food distribution operation, supplying millions of pounds of food and grocery items to partner agencies ever year. These charitable agencies feed hungry and needy people in west Tennessee, east Arkansas and north Mississippi and include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, youth programs, senior programs, rehabilitation programs and residential centers. After ordering food from a list of available items, the orders are pulled, packed and either picked up or delivered to the agencies.

Did you know?

• 20.5% of the 31-county Mid-South area is food insecure
• That is 415,760 people
• 27% live above the poverty line and are not eligible for federal nutrition programs like food stamps
• 23% of Mid-South children are food insecure
• That is 121,610 children who do not know if they will eat today

Special Programs Include:

The Food for Kids BackPack Program gives eligible children a backpack filled with wholesome food to take home every weekend. The food is easy to open and requires little or no preparation. There is enough food in each backpack for the child to have nutritious food to eat three times a day for two days. There is also nutrition information in each bag in the form of games or puzzles. Bags are filled with food by volunteers at the Food Bank, then put into backpacks at the host sites and distributed to the children on Fridays.

The Mobile Pantry distributes large amounts of food and other groceries to under-served rural area partner agencies that do not have the storage capacity to handle a large distribution. Mid-South Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry trucks, loaded with several thousand pounds of food, drive to the designated location, which may be a church or school gym or other large facility. The host agency pre-screens the clients for need using the same USDA income guidelines used by all partner agencies. When the trucks arrive, volunteers set up the food for rapid distribution.

Kids Cafes feed needy children a hot, nutritious meal in a restaurant-like atmosphere twice a week. The kids also receive nutrition and healthy lifestyle education. Kids Cafes are located in several area Boys and Girls Clubs and Girls Inc.