Food banks boost pantry partners with grants and capacity support

North Texas Food Bank pushed about $6.3 million in network grants to nearly 70 partner agencies in fiscal 2023, a jump from $1.1 million in 2021 and $32,000 the year before. The food bank said 90% of its food moved through its agency network, and the grants helped partners add or repair refrigeration, expand pantries, buy trucks and extend wraparound services, the kind of capacity fixes that determine whether a pantry can absorb more food without stretching staff and volunteers thin.

Maryland Food Bank has taken the same approach for eight consecutive years through its Food First Capacity Grants. Its program is designed to expand partner capacity by funding longer service hours, better transportation and handling for perishables, and services that address the root causes of hunger. It has also used smaller capacity-building awards to spread money more broadly, while separate grants have helped partners buy laptops and iPads for intake systems and pursue leadership-development scholarships tied to management certification.

The demand backdrop explains why this work has moved from optional to operational. USDA's Economic Research Service said 13.7% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2024, including 5.4% that experienced very low food security. Among households with children, 9.1% were food insecure. Feeding America says about 48 million people face food insecurity, roughly 1 in 7, which leaves local networks responsible not just for sourcing food but for receiving it, storing it and moving it out cleanly.

That is the same math A Simple Gesture lives with in Guilford County and across its broader chapter model. The organization calls itself a near zero-cost program and says a one-dollar donation converts to more than $30 of food going to food banks and pantries. A Simple Gesture-Guilford County says it has partnered with dozens of local food pantries since 2015, and the model dates to 2011. With a goal of adding 900 new chapters by the end of 2035 and generating 450 million pounds of food, the bottlenecks are familiar: shelves, refrigeration, scheduling, equipment and staffing. Small investments in the partners, route coordination and volunteers around the green bags can do as much to steady the route as any extra pickup.