RI Foundation Awards $180K in Grants to 7 Food Banks Across State

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

GoLocalProv News Team

 

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The RI Food Bank is one of the organizations to receive a grant. PHOTO: RI Food Bank

The Rhode Island Foundation announced $180,000 in emergency grants to seven social service agencies that provide food to low-income households across the state.

According to R.I. Community Food Bank’s 2019 Report on Hunger, Rhode Islanders in need missed over 11 million meals last year.

"While we continue to pursue long-term solutions to poverty, we also support these organizations in providing immediate and critical assistance to struggling Rhode Islanders," said Neil D. Steinberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO.

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The announcement comes as proposed cuts to federal safety net programs threaten to overwhelm the RI’s food pantries, which are near capacity.

The Grants

The RI Food Bank received a grant of $50,000. The money will help the Food Bank acquire 150,000 pounds of food-- enough to provide 185,000 additional meals.

The organization will buy staples such as baked beans, rice, tomato soup, fresh produce, and canned carrots, corn and peas for member agencies like the East Bay Food Pantry in Bristol, Progreso Latino in Central Falls, the R.I. Center Assisting those in Need in Charlestown and the West Warwick Senior Center Pantry.

The Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) in Cranston received $35,000 to provide the families it serves with food and housing assistance. Last year, CCAP’s food bank distributed more than 230,000 pounds of food.

Connecting for Children and Families (CCF) in Woonsocket received a total of $25,000. The organization received $15,000 as the fiscal agent for the Woonsocket Protein Collaborative. The six-member agencies will use the funding to stock their pantries with high-protein food items such as peanut butter and beef.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport received $25,000. The funding will enable the center to stock its Mobile Food Pantry with enough meat, milk, eggs and produce to continue making its regular twice-weekly visits to local low-income housing complexes for three months.

The East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP) in East Providence was awarded $15,000 to support the operations of its community food banks in East Providence and Newport. The organization’s food pantries assist more than 5,000 households annually.

The Jonnycake Center for Hope in Peace Dale was awarded $15,000. The funding will enable the agency to maintain the quantity and quality of the food distributed, despite the rising cost of food.  The Center spends approximately $110,000 on food each year, in addition to the food it receives at low or no-cost from the R.I. Community Food Bank.

The Jonnycake Center of Westerly received $15,000. The funding will enable the agency’s food pantry to provide an additional 125,000 meals. The organization serves more than 3,000 residents of Westerly, Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton annually.

PHOTO: RI Food Bank

 

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