Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore

In 1981, a small group of individuals from the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project (STOP, Inc.) of Hampton Roads recognized the issue of hunger in their community and came together to address it. With $50,000 in grant funding from the USDA, they started the initial infrastructure. What began as a Community Food and Nutrition Program was established as a non-profit organization and one of Virginia’s first food banks just a year later. The original purpose of this organization was to serve as a regional clearinghouse in collecting and distributing unmarketable but edible food to appropriate non-profit organizations for their food programs. With 73 member agencies, they distributed 400,000 meals in their first year. Since then, the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore has proudly provided more than 380 million nutritious meals to our neighbors in need. Through our programs, facilities, and large network of community partners, we work to eliminate hunger daily. Our understanding of the need for a long-term solution aims at moving Hampton Roads closer to achieving the mission of eliminating hunger for those we serve—not only for the day, or for the week, but for a lifetime. As the region’s largest hunger relief organization, we know that to eliminate hunger in our community, we must simultaneously provide meals to address the root causes of food insecurity in the short term and establish collaborative partnerships to move our neighbors to greater economic self-sufficiency. We are helping neighbors access educational opportunities, quality healthcare, workforce development, financial literacy, and housing assistance. We are serving the person who is hungry today, but we want to address their overall needs, so they are not hungry tomorrow.

Since 1981, the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore (Foodbank), a Feeding America partner food bank and member of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, has proudly provided more than 400 million meals to our neighbors in need, including a record-breaking 20 million meals in the past year. Serving eleven cities and counties where one in ten neighbors are food insecure, we play a vital role in the fight against hunger by collecting, storing, and distributing nutritious food. In addition, we focus on long-term solutions towards self-sufficiency by addressing the root causes of hunger. Our mission is supported by a dedicated network of volunteers, generous donors, and compassionate community partners. The Foodbank acquires food through wholesalers, retailers, brokers, shippers, and farmers. Some of it we buy, and much of it is donated. Then, our loyal volunteers – more than 6,200 strong – store, sort, and pack the food in our warehouses in Norfolk, Franklin, and Tasley, and at our 200 partner agency locations. Finally, the food is redistributed to our vast network of community partners through innovative distribution models like food hubs, mobile markets, mobile pantries, and specialized programs for children, seniors, and military families.