Food Bank seeks bond bill funds to better serve hungry Delawareans
May 14, 2018
Food Bank staff visits Legislative Hall to meet lawmakers
When the Food Bank of Delaware shows up, we we’re on a mission and we wear our colors. And when the Food Bank’s staff visits Legislative Hall, we’re definitely hard to miss. Our Food Bank-branded tie-dye t-shirts just don’t blend with traditional business attire, and that’s OK.
On May 1, the Food Bank brought lunch prepared by our Culinary School students and chefs to lawmakers and their staff, and each Food Bank staff member was asked to visit his or her legislator, particularly those serving on the Bond Bill committee to petition for a one-time grant of $1 million of state funds from FY2019 Bond and Capital Improvements Act.
The money will be used to expand our operations and our services from a new warehouse facility in 222 Lake Drive, Newark. Our mission is to provide nutritious foods to Delawareans in need and facilitate long-term solutions to the problems of hunger and
poverty through community education and advocacy.
According to the most recent information from Feeding America, Delaware’s food insecurity rate is 12 percent: 20 percent of Kent/Sussex county children live in poverty and 13.7 percent of New Castle County children live in poverty.
Looking at the Food Bank’s need to better serve state residents, Patricia Beebe, our CEO, wrote to Delaware Gov. John Carney in December to explain expansion plans. She told him “The Food Bank of Delaware is currently in the midst of a capital campaign to enhance programming at our new facility at 222 Lake Drive, Newark. This new 80,000 square foot facility and 23- acre campus represents an opportunity to create a bold new future for Delaware, by giving us the tools to do what the citizens of our State are requesting of us.”
“Our intention is to ensure that this new facility serves as a continuation of our view that the issue of food security is an essential part of the solution on the issues of health and wellness, poverty, children’s school performance, education and criminal justice reform. Food security should always be viewed as an important aspect of solving the problems identified, not just as a fleeting thought after they have been discussed,” she wrote.
The Food Bank of Delaware invites state residents to support our bid for the $1 million grant; we urge you to sign our Change.org petition by clicking here.
