Our Programs
Meeting the people we serve where they are.
Food Bank for the Heartland works with more than 500 Network Partners, including pantries, schools, churches, emergency shelters, and other non-profit organizations to supply emergency and supplemental food to children, families, seniors, and veterans in need. In FY 2024, we distributed 24.9 million meals across our service area. Our Network Partners play an integral role in our communities to assist those struggling with food insecurity throughout the Heartland.
BackPack Program
1 in 5 children in the Food Bank’s 93-county service area is at-risk for hunger. The BackPack Program, a partnership with area schools, offers packs of weekend breakfasts and lunches to children. Each week during the school year, 8,404 packs—equaling 33,616 meals—of easy-to-prepare or ready-to-eat nutritious food are distributed to children in 245 schools in 110 school districts in Nebraska and western Iowa. Each BackPack is assembled by Food Bank volunteers.
To learn more about becoming a participating school in the BackPack Program, please contact Spencer Cohorst.
Interested in supporting our BackPack Program? Contact our Development Team.
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Mobile Pantry Program
The Mobile Pantry Program delivers fresh and shelf-stable food directly to communities with a high need but limited food resources. These one-day, drive-through distributions are free to attend. Community packs include various shelf-stable items. Along with community packs, other items distributed can include assorted produce, bread, and dairy products.
In FY 2024, the Food Bank hosted 383 mobile pantry events in 40 counties, distributing nearly 2.7 million meals and helping 63,946 Heartland households.
If you are a Network Partner or community organization wishing to host a mobile pantry, please contact Spencer Cohorst.
Interested in supporting our Mobile Pantry Program? Contact our Development Team.
Kids Café
Kids Café is one of the nation’s largest free-meal service programs for children—serving meals to kids in partnership with organizations that offer a safe environment after school and during the summer months. The Food Bank distributed a total of 101,664 meals during the FY 2024 program year. We provided an average of 1.782 meals each week to 12 sites around the Omaha metro area as part of the Kids Café After School Program, and an additional 3,396 meals each week to 7 sites during the Kids Café Summer Feeding Program.
For information on starting a Kids Café, please contact Allison Oberg.
Interested in supporting Kids Café? Contact our Development Team.
SNAP Outreach
Food Bank for the Heartland’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Outreach team helps families and individuals navigate the application process, understand program benefits, and access additional community resources. As an equal-opportunity provider, our team helped submit 5,772 applications in Nebraska and 12,491 applications in Iowa in FY 2024. The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) estimates that $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.79 in economic activity at local retailers.
Interested in supporting our SNAP Outreach Program? Contact our Development Team.
Program Reports
Links to our program reports can be found below. For additional reports and resources, click here.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. View the full USDA Nondiscrimination Statement here.
