Fact Sheet

Key Descriptors

Name	Eastern Illinois Food Bank
Founded	1983
Purpose	A nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization, governed by a volunteer board of directors, and licensed to acquire, store, maintain and distribute quantities of food products and essentials to hungry people through a network of partnership agencies in a fourteen county region of eastern Illinois, and as a recognized affiliate for America's Second Harvest, serve as a redistribution link between food manufacturers/suppliers and the agencies that respond to hunger needs, malnutrition and food insecurity.
Counties Served	Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Moultrie, Piatt and Vermilion
Physical Plant	40,000 square foot warehouse, refrigeration, loading docks and office/reception facility
Budget	Approximately $800,000 annually
Staff	12 Full Time Positions
Agencies Served	Food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, disaster relief agencies residential treatment programs, halfway houses, youth activity programs, senior adult care programs, summer camps, foster care associations.
Affiliation	America's Second Harvest and its network of nearly 200 food banks across the United States

 

 

 

General Facts

• The Foodbank delivers annually over 5 million pounds of food product to 14 counties, over 8,000 square miles. This amounts to about 417,000 pounds, on the average, of food products distributed per month.
  
  
• The food distributed through the Foodbank reaches almost 35,000 people each month.
  
  
• The majority of recipients of the Foodbank's food products are children and senior adults, while approximately 50% of the households served contain at least one working adult.
  
  
• The food products and essentials supplied and distributed by the Foodbank are made available to the people within the 14 county region by over 200 food pantries, soup kitchens, churches, shelters, day care center, children's homes, youth centers and volunteer service agencies.
  
  
• The Foodbank solicits, receives, stores and distributes food and household products donated by local enterprises, manufacturers, warehouses and the food industry nationally or across Illinois, or as acquired and purchased at bulk and surplus rates as food staples.
  
  
• Through the America's Second Harvest network, the Foodbank spends about 16 cents to procure, collect, handle, and distribute a pound of food. America's Second Harvest estimates that the average value of the food distributed is $1.69 per pound.
  
  
• The Foodbank must meet the same strict codes for handling and storing food products as commercial grocery stores and restaurants, and all products must meet all safety and nutrition standards.