Chicago, IL, June 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), a nonprofit with a mission to help nourish the world’s hungry through uniting and advancing food banks, announced today that its member food banks served an estimated 16.9 million people in 2019, representing a 76 percent increase in service from 2018.
In 2019, the GFN network served organizations in 44 countries, up from 30 countries in the previous year. The global network of food recovery organizations provided an estimated 1.4 billion meals through 56,171 beneficiary organizations, including pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, orphanages, daycares and school-age child feeding programs. In total, 870 million kilos of food were recovered and redistributed for hunger relief and local social impact last year.
More than half of the food banks supported by GFN are now based in the Asia-Pacific, where 60 percent of the world’s undernourished reside. In 2019, GFN began partnering with emerging food bank organizations in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. In Sub-Saharan Africa, GFN launched formal engagements with food banks in urban areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar and Nigeria. In 2019, GFN maintained strong partnerships with food banks across 15 countries in Latin America.
“At a time when unemployment rates, poverty, and food insecurity rates are rising in virtually all countries, it is more important than ever to invest in community-based hunger relief organizations like food banks,” said Lisa Moon, President & CEO of The Global FoodBanking Network. “The Global FoodBanking Network is proud to unite hunger fighters in 44 countries on the frontlines of extending life-saving support to families in need.”
Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on March 12, 2020, food banks served by GFN have even further ramped up their efforts. A GFN pulse survey conducted last month reported that food bank organizations in all countries were seeing increases in demand for emergency assistance, with nearly half seeing a doubling of requests. On average, food banks across 44 countries had increased service to upwards 100,000 more people in need.
GFN is profoundly grateful to the many corporate partners and individuals who helped make our 2019 work a success, including Abbott, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Brambles, Caterpillar Foundation, Enterprise Holdings Foundation, General Mills Foundation, Griffith Foods Foundation, Harvard Law School, International Paper Company, Kellogg Company and PIMCO Foundation.
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About The Global FoodBanking Network:
The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) is an international non-profit organization that nourishes the world’s hungry through uniting and advancing food banks in 44 countries. GFN focuses on combating hunger and preventing food waste by providing expertise, directing resources, sharing knowledge and developing connections that increase efficiency, ensure food safety and reach more people facing hunger. Last year, food banks distributed 1.4 billion meals, feeding 16.9 million people through a network of more than 56,000 social service and community-based organizations. For more information, please visit www.foodbanking.org.