Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 853% Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program 16,022,144 pounds 49% Farmers 13,002,274 pounds 15% Local Retailers/ Supermarket Chains 4,033,942 pounds 7% Feeding America 1,872,888 pounds 1% Food Drives 259,051 pounds 28% Manufacturers and Distributors 7,439,582 pounds 16% Private Funding 4,890,142 pounds 2% Commodity Supplemental Food Program (seniors) 643,761 pounds 29% U. S. Department of Agriculture 8,993,831 pounds How Do We Get Our Food? feature Your Dollars Give Meals and Hope The Food Acquisition team works every day to ensure there’s enough nutritious food for the more than 140,000 people we serve each month. However, food donations fluctuate and have decreased as the food industry becomes more technologically advanced. Government programs also vary with shifts in policy. To maintain a steady supply of healthy food all year round, we depend on our generous donors. In March, The Greater Boston Food Bank will launch its “Give Meals. Give Hope.” campaign to raise $2 million, the equivalent of six million healthy meals for families struggling with hunger. to learn how you can participate. Many people often ask “Where does The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) get its food?” GBFB acquires food through many different sources. About half of the 57.7 million pounds of food we distributed last year was purchased and half do- nated. Donated Last year, 47 percent of the food GBFB distributed was donated, totaling more than 26 million pounds. We received donations from approximately 440 donors. These included local retailers, supermarket chains, distributors, manufacturers, food drives, farmers and Feeding America, the umbrella organization of U.S. food banks. Purchased GBFB purchases food with both private and public funds. Last year, private fundraising supported 16 percent of purchases and state and federal programs subsidized the balance. The government programs include the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) for seniors. The GBFB Food Acquisition team works tirelessly building relationships with local retailers, super- market chains, distributors, manufacturers, farm- ers, and individual donors to obtain the food that we provide to our 530 member agencies across Eastern Massachusetts. 5 4 VISIT