Worcester County Food Bank Fund to End Hunger

The WCFB Fund to End Hunger, established in 2011, works to partner with nonprofit organizations to achieve a shared vision of hunger-free communities. The fund is particularly interested in supporting a mix of organizations providing direct service and/or advocacy for federal nutrition programs.

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, we have seen the number of people struggling with food insecurity rise to unprecedented levels in our community and across the country. In an effort to provide financial resources to those working on the front lines, the WCFB Fund to End Hunger will open early – accepting applications from Jan. 15 to March 1. In addition, thanks to a generous anonymous donor, the fund will have increased financial resources to award. Therefore, we will consider applications requesting more than $3,000 this year. Finally, we have softened and streamlined the application itself to be less burdensome and time consuming for applicants.

Areas of Interest

• Access to Healthy Food
  1. Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) advocacy and awareness efforts
  2. Child & family nutrition programs such as school meals, summer meals, after-school meals and the Women, Infant and Child Nutrition Program (WIC).
  3. Senior nutrition programs such as Meals on Wheels
  4. Community food and nutrition resources such as Farmer’s Markets and community gardens
  5. Requests for food and personal care/household items will be considered on a limited basis and are restricted to Medical diets, culturally specific diets and educational purposes (cooking demonstration or nutrition education)
• Equipment/Capacity Building
  1. Purchases of equipment for food handling and storage. Please include a quote with any purchase more than $250
  2. Items needed to build capacity due to increased demand (bags, totes)
  3. Requests to support new ways of doing business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (increased staff, stipends, delivery etc.)
• Economic Self Sufficiency
  1. Initiatives that create jobs (educational and job readiness)
  2. Skill development programs (nutrition based cooking, budgeting, etc.) 

Details

• Applications will be accepted from Jan. 15 to March 1 and must be completed online. Decisions will be announced by early April.
• The fund welcomes applications from all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations based in and serving Worcester County. Members of the Hunger-Free Network of the Worcester County Food Bank are strongly encouraged to apply.
• We are happy to have conversations with interested applicants before applying. Please reach out to Sarah Shugrue, GWCF program officer, to set up a time.