DAVENPORT, IOWA (July 31, 2019) — A recently opened food pantry at NorthPark Mall will help the 1 in 8 people and 1 in 5 children who struggle with hunger in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. The pantry is open every Tuesday, 4– 6:30PM; Thursday, 9–11AM; and Saturday, 9–11AM. There is also a pantry at SouthPark Mall in Illinois, as well as 300 others throughout our service area, where hungry people can get the food they need to live a happy, healthy life. All of our food pantries are listed at riverbendfoodbank.org/find-food.
Map the Meal Gap data recently released by Feeding America revealed that 114,480 people are food insecure in the 23 counties served by River Bend Foodbank, including 38,360 children. In Scott County, 20,540 people are missing meals, which includes 6,720 children.
A record number of 17,055,093 meals were distributed from River Bend Foodbank for fiscal year 2018/2019. This is 24% more than the previous fiscal year and a full 2.3 times the meal distribution goal we set of tripling by 2025. The Meal Gap is 19,535,900 meals and while this leaves an unmet Meal Gap of only 2,480,807, there is still much work to be done to make sure everyone is receiving enough food to live an active, healthy lifestyle in our 23-county service area.
“Congratulations to everyone who contributed to surpassing the 17 million meal milestone,” said Michael Miller, President & CEO of River Bend Foodbank. “This is a significant achievement that puts our community closer to filling the Meal Gap than ever before. The new food pantries in NorthPark and SouthPark will help us close the Gap in Scott and Rock Island Counties, just as we seek to do in each of the communities we serve.”
Ending hunger is not the work of just River Bend Foodbank staff, but that of food donors, volunteers, financial contributors, and Partner Agencies, with over 10,000 people involved in this effort.
About River Bend Foodbank — The Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organization in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities, having distributed over 17 million meals in 2018/2019 to hungry people in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Our mission is to lead the community-wide effort to end hunger in Iowa and Illinois. We do this through food distribution in partnership with our 300 agencies as well as our Mobile Pantries, Senior Pantries, School Pantries, and Backpack Program. The best and easiest way to help is to go online: visit us at riverbendfoodbank.org.
