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brick-and-mortar food pantries and mobile pantries, as well as other partners. They build networks of food assistance so that people facing hardships have direct access to nutrition. The other half of their work is collecting food, so that when people come for support, they have what they need to get through trying times. Additionally, the organization focuses on child nutrition: ensuring kids don’t go home to empty cabinets on weekends. Schools and after school sites identify the most vulnerable children and send them home with food for the weekend to ensure they are taken care of. The 2020s have presented huge and unprecedented challenges for Feed the Gulf Coast. “The need just exploded,” says Ledger. “During COVID, there were lines of cars filling entire parking lots at football stadiums, with people waiting for hours for food.” At the same time, the places the group serves faced multiple hurricanes — Sally, Zeta, Ida — and tornadoes in between. “These disasters were stacked on top of each other. Only now have we transitioned into what we call the post-COVID era, and with it, inflation has emerged as a significant hurdle.” Expenses these days are adding up to sums larger than many people are able to afford. “Food security is on a continuum. There are those in dire situations, but also folks who are managing most of the time until something happens: a medical emergency, inflation or a car breaking down. They are then faced with hard choices — especially if they are taking care of children and seniors. It doesn’t take much for people to find themselves in situations they never dreamt they would be in.” He points to one woman who, in the third trimester of her pregnancy, was told by her doctor that, due to complications, she could no longer work. She did not qualify

be successful, because three-quarters of our food gets donated from private sources like the retailers.” The remaining 25% comes from the organization’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through their Emergency Food Assistance Program. Walking through the facility, Jayroe brings me to a cavernous, 20,000-square-foot freezer. “It’s jam-packed,” she says. Food banks like Second Harvest have changed mightily in the last 15 years, adapting to the changing food industry. “When the food bank started over 40 years ago, we were primarily big dry warehouses, and we were getting mostly manufacturing overruns,” she explains. This meant cookies, crackers, cereal, candy — things that don’t perish. “That was great, but not necessarily the most nutritious food.” When the food industry reengineered itself for just-in-time ordering — that is, a streamlined inventory system where shelves are monitored and restocked only as needed — there were fewer available nonperishables for food banks. As that happened, however, perish able — and oftentimes much more nutritious — food was in greater supply. “These were things that were no longer marketable, but were still consumable, that so many of our retailers had to throw away.” Second Harvest invested in refrigerated trucks, and built bigger freezers and coolers to take advantage of an incredible new opportunity. Perishable donations grew quickly, to around 40% of the donated food that Second Harvest distributed. “For the retailers, it was a way to dispose of that food that they couldn’t market anymore without having to pay to put it into the landfill. So, it became a win-win. That’s so much of what I think food banking is. It’s good for everybody. It’s good for the economy, it’s good for the govern ment, and it’s good for the people that we’re serving.” The numbers bear this out. Second Harvest works with more than 700 partners. In its first four years, it distributed 4 million pounds of

food. In the four-year interval from 2017 to 2021, it distributed 226 million. In 2022 — its 40th anniversary — Second Harvest opened a community kitchen in Lake Charles and, with support from Gayle Benson, renovated the Elmwood facility, including installing air conditioning, which was a great boon for volunteers. Its portfolio of programs includes food access: distribu tion of food, whether through mobile pantries or outreach; senior hunger, including meals and deliveries; disaster relief; food systems such as their food desert initiative in Lafayette and grower and community garden programs; equity, such as mobile markets and development programs to solve food access issues; and wellness: how to eat right. Second Harvest is not alone in its efforts. Theodore, Alabama-based Feeding the Gulf Coast is a crucial organization combating food insecurity in 24 counties in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, the latter of which is the hungriest state in the country. “Our vision is a hunger-free Gulf Coast, and our mission is providing access to nutrition for folks facing systemic hunger caused by various reasons, from disasters to health issues to systemic issues,” says Michael Ledger, the organization’s president and CEO. Feeding the Gulf Coast and its staff and volunteers work to find partners in

Rouses Markets is doing its part in the fight against hunger through its Food Bank Assistance Program — a year-round operation across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that provides meals to those facing food insecurity. With the support of generous customers and vendor partners, the program has achieved a remarkable milestone: donating almost 50 million meals to local communities since its inception.

32 ROUSES WINTER 2023