United Way Fights Against Hunger

No one should be hungry in our community – Feeding Hungry People.

To stop hunger in our region is the goal of making these funds available to expand cold storage within our food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other organizations that are feeding hungry people.

The Hunger Relief Steering Committee comprising of 40+ members established the Hunger Relief Goals of:

• Awareness—perception, knowledge, and information that Hunger Exist and what is hunger
• Access—consistently and effectively connect hungry people to nutritious food
• Advocacy–improve lives of food insecure individuals and families by taking action to influence change

Hunger is an issue in our communities.

• 1 in 5 Kentucky children are food insecure and struggling with Hunger
• 1 in 7 Kentucky individuals are food insecure and struggling with Hunger

• Kentucky has the 2^nd Highest food insecurity percentage (17.3% – 2020) in America for adults 50 – 59 years of age
• Food Insecurity in our communities average 14.8%
• Need in excess of $10,000,000 to fill the “meal gap” in the counties of Daviess, Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster.
• Daviess County only needs $5,910,000 to fill the “meal gap”
  *Statistics from Lane Report and Feeding America*

To ensure no person goes hungry, the ‘Meal Gap’ has to be closed.  To do this we need to increase the amount of food into the system and have the ability to store items such as meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, and dairy products.

Over the last two years, working through the Pandemic and holding hunger relief strategic planning sessions the food serving organizations have identified two priorities to invest dollars first:

• Increase ability to give out more healthy and nutritious food improving freezer and refrigeration storage space with frontline not-for-profit organizations.
• Create and develop a centralized food bank to serve the region with adequate cold and dry storage to increase the amount of food into the system.

The rationale is simple.   We don’t have enough cold storage to accept large donations of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy products, and other items.  There isn’t a coordinated system of collecting and distributing food items from the many generous businesses, farmers, and families within our community as well as the sharing of donating products between food pantries, shelters, and other groups.

This is a great first step to
Ensuring no one is hungry in our community

• Only not-for-profit 501c3 organizations as designated by the IRS can request funds.
• Must have a physical presence and intended to serve people in at least one of the following counties within Kentucky: Daviess, Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster.
• Grant amounts will not exceed $2,000 per organization.
• Request can only be made for freezer and refrigeration units that will be installed and used solely for the purpose of feeding those in need of food.
• Grant recipients will be responsible for purchasing and installing their units.
• Grant recipients agree to allow the use of their organization’s name as well as pictures to be taken on-site of the cold storage products to be used in media releases and on social media posts.
• The grant is intended to be used for organizations feeding those in poverty such as food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and senior services.
  • Organizations that are encouraged to apply are:
    • Churches and religious organizations operating food pantries and soup kitchens as part of their mission.
    • Homeless Shelters and other shelter types that are feeding individuals.
    • Soup Kitchens operating on a regular basis.
    • Food serving organizations whose primary purpose is feeding the less fortunate and those who don’t know from where their next meal is coming.

If interested in improving your cold storage capacity, fill out the Cold Storage Grant Request document and submit it to Vikki Embry- vembry@uwov.org.

Click to Download “Cold Storage Grant Request” Form