Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana adapted its annual “Fill-A-Bowl” event as a virtual fundraiser and it was a smashing success. Officials say they raised $92,612, which is enough to supply around 750,000 meals to our neighbors in need.
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana is the region’s largest hunger-relief organization serving over 100 pantries and meal programs in Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Henry, Jay, Madison, Randolph and Wabash Counties.
Second Harvest also has two newly acquired refrigerated semi-trailers on the road thanks to a $104,000 grant provided by The American Electric Power Foundation (AEP Foundation) on behalf of Indiana Michigan Power (I&M).
The AEP Foundation grant enables Second Harvest Food Bank, the third-largest food bank in Indiana, to transport significantly more food donations from businesses and organizations that provide surplus food to those living with food insecurity.
Second Harvest is seeing an increase in the amount of food it provides as a result of COVID-19. In 2020, it supplied more than 14.8 million pounds of food compared to 8.1 million pounds in 2019.
The semi-trailers help the agency expedite the delivery of more food to Food Distribution Tailgates, schools, area agency partners, and adult-living facilities. Each 53-foot trailer hauls an average load of 30,000 pounds of food, or approximately 25,000 meals. Both semi-trailers can transport multiple loads per day, delivering more than 50,000 meals daily.
