“It takes me back to when I was a child in the inner city where food was a lot scarcer. When your neighbor up the street couldn’t get out or had health issues, so you took what you had and shared with them. To me the food bank is that neighborhood, that village I grew up in. It lets me know that I’m not alone — lets me know that people still care for people.”
MFB’s Strategy Group uses critical tools to enhance existing programs with new ideas and partnerships that expand food access and address the underlying causes of food insecurity for more Marylanders.
Since 2011, Amy Cawley has overseen the Farm to Food Bank Program, which combines field gleanings, donations, and contract growing to form the cornerstone of the food bank’s nutrition strategy. She has helped the program grow from its humble roots with just two partners — First Fruits Farms in northern Baltimore County and Arnold Farms in northeastern Queen Anne’s County — into a powerhouse produce program with more than 60 farms that infuse our statewide food distribution efforts with hundreds of thousands of pounds of nutritious fruits and vegetables annually.
At the Maryland Food Bank, nutrition is not the latest buzzword nor a short-term fad. Distributing more nutritious food, and helping educate food-insecure Marylanders about how eating a healthier diet can improve their lives is what we do each and every day.
Even through a global pandemic, our commitment to helping Marylanders improve their lives through better nutrition stayed strong. Find out about all the different ways we kept our focus on nutritious foods during COVID-19.
Check out the latest local and national news about the Maryland Food Bank and how we’re addressing hunger in our communities.
