Reaching our rural neighbors with food assistance
Ninety percent of land in North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota is dedicated to agriculture production – we are feeding the world! Yet, many of our neighbors living in rural, agricultural communities are living in food deserts and face unique challenges.
Food deserts are regions where people have limited access to healthful and affordable food due to having a low income or needing to travel farther to find nutritious food options.
This makes the Great Plains Food Bank and our partner food pantries and meal sites an essential resource.
We have heard from our rural neighbors their common challenges include limited basic services like grocery stores and healthcare. Reliable childcare can be hard to find, as are jobs which are needed to support a household.
Oftentimes, it is a combination of challenges that create financial hardships for our neighbors.
The Great Plains Food Bank is committed to bridging the gap between people needing food assistance and their ability to access it. We do this critical work through our network of partner food pantries and meal sites, our mobile food pantry, senior food pack program, backpack program, youth summer meal sites, school pantry program, and wellness pantry program. Your support helps distribute millions of pounds of food into rural communities and food deserts each year.
Volunteers of all ages help make the
Great Plains Food Bank Mobile Food Pantry successful!
Traditional food pantries serving rural communities
The Great Plains Food Bank has a 40-year history of distributing food through our network of partner food pantries and meal sites. In partnership with local community champions, our staff works diligently to expand this network beyond highly populated urban areas and ensure services reach into rural communities in every corner of our service area.
Currently, nearly two-thirds of our partner food pantries are located in rural communities. Each month, the Great Plains Food Bank delivers a wide variety of nutritious food right to the doors of our partner food pantries and meal sites, who ensure it reaches thousands of our rural neighbors facing hunger — neighbors who might otherwise not have access to food assistance.
Mobile food pantry – a food pantry on wheels!
The Great Plains Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry was created in 2008 to fill a need for individuals experiencing food insecurity in rural communities. Our over the road semi-trucks serve as food pantries on wheels, rolling into high need communities that either don’t have a traditional food pantry, or whose food pantry isn’t able to keep up with the need.
The Great Plains Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry serves nearly 70 communities throughout North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota each quarter of the year. We are committed to providing our rural neighbors seeking food assistance with a variety of nutritious foods that include fresh fruits and vegetables, shelf-stable boxed goods, dairy products, and canned and frozen protein items.
Thanks to support from friends like you, children, older adults and families living in rural communities throughout North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota received food for more than 782,000 meals last year!
Click HERE to see when our mobile food pantry will be coming to a community near you.