Collaboration Made the Difference
At the start of the pandemic, the challenge of accessing food became greater for everyone, especially food-insecure Marylanders. So, we shifted our efforts to devising ways to keep the nutritional lifeline of food assistance open, accessible, and — most importantly — safe for millions of our neighbors in need. That’s when Back Up Boxes (BUBs) were born.
Within 30 days of Governor Hogan’s stay home order, we launched Alco Place, an offsite facility to pack, store, and prepare pallets of these boxes with a two-week supply of shelf-stable food to be distributed statewide. And this quick action proved to be crucial to our ability to continue meeting the need in FY21.
“Back Up Boxes have become emblematic of the Maryland Food Bank. They are data-driven, thoughtfully constructed care packages full of nutritious foods that are able to break though virtually any barrier to food insecurity.”
Originally planned for distribution through our partner network, BUBs were the optimal solution in FY21 when local jurisdictions — the City of Baltimore, as well as Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Calvert counties in central Maryland — sourced the Maryland Food Bank to supply the food for their local distribution efforts.
And out of the more than 340,000 total BUBs we distributed in FY21, we supplied more than 300,000 through local agreements:
Total BUB Distribution by Region
- Central 322,970
- Eastern 8,329
- Western 70
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