Chew On This
The following summarizes material presented in a virtual CEO Forum on April 22, 2026. You can watch the recording here.
Recently, I enjoyed meeting with many of the Food Bank’s partners and supporters in a virtual forum, entitled “More Than a Moment: From Emergency Response to Enduring Change.” I’m always grateful to connect with individuals who share our commitment to providing nourishing food and supporting good health for all.
I shared what I have learned in my first year as CEO, what we are facing together, and why I’m so hopeful for the future. Food banking is changing. More than ever, we are leaning into the importance of nutrition and health, and the root causes of hunger, to help people build self-reliance and food security over time. What helps too, is knowing that we are part of a community that refuses to accept hunger as inevitable.
My first takeaway
I’ve now been a food banker for just over 8 months, and during that time I’ve visited more than 50 food pantries and distribution sites across our service area. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far is this: ending hunger requires far more than food alone.
Food is essential, of course, but it isn’t enough.
Creating long-term solutions to food security depends on strong community connections, education and training, and collaboration across the public, private, and social service sectors. Hunger is deeply intertwined with poverty, health, housing, and equity. If we want to change outcomes, not just manage crises, we must work across those lines together.
One of the most rewarding parts of my job, the thing that genuinely excites me about coming to work every day, has been seeing just how deeply our volunteers, supporters, and partner organizations are invested in this mission. What I’ve experienced time and again is the sense that we are all on this journey, together.
"One of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far is this: ending hunger requires far more than food alone. Food is essential, of course, but it isn’t enough."
Humbling moments
The work we do, as all of you know, is about people. When I think about community connections, I think about a volunteer I recently met. She’s been volunteering with the Food Bank for many years, and through our Mobile Food Pantry has built real friendships with other volunteers. They swap travel stories. They support a local, family‑owned restaurant by sharing lunch together before their afternoon shift. Food banking, in moments like that, becomes about belonging as much as service.
Community connections also look like a local family farm donating 18,000 eggs this past February to pantries serving their neighbors.
These moments humble me, and they energize me. They remind me that this work is about far more than logistics or pounds of food. It’s about people showing up for one another.
Photos/Andrew Shurtleff Photography, LLC
A national shift: Innovation abounds
I’m also energized to be leading the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank at a time of real innovation in food banking. Innovation that is much needed. We are part of a national shift away from a traditional, supply‑driven model toward one that is data‑informed, strategic, and centered on health and nutrition. We are asking better questions about impact, access, and equity, and we are willing to change how we do things so we can do them better.
And yet, alongside this good news about innovation, I shared some cold, hard facts too. Facts I truly wish weren’t true.
A record-breaking year (not in a good way)
At our current pace, we are likely to close this fiscal year having distributed more food and served more people than at any other point in our 45‑year history. From July through December 2025, our network served an average of 177,000 guests each month.
We’re on track to distribute more than 33 million pounds of food, equivalent to 27.5 million meals, for the fiscal year ending June 30.
What’s causing this?
In the past, food insecurity trends followed unemployment levels. When jobs returned, pantry lines shortened. What we are seeing now is different. Food insecurity no longer tracks employment levels. The cost of living is simply too high, even for many working households.
On top of that, historic cuts to federal nutrition assistance programs have created gaps that food banks and pantries simply cannot fill. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) remains our most effective anti‑hunger program. That reality is why we are increasingly engaged at the state and national level, where promising policy efforts to support SNAP and other programs, such as those supporting agriculture or our local farmers, align with our mission.
Our network is strained …
During the forum, Rhonda Oliver, executive director at our partner pantry Feeding Greene, shared some of her experiences working on the front lines of rural hunger. What she shared sounds all too familiar for many in food banking; our charitable network of food banks and food pantries is strong, committed, but strained.
"Our more than 400 community partners across the Blue Ridge region continue to meet elevated needs, often with tight budgets, fewer free food resources, and an aging volunteer base. They are true champions."
…but our supporters step up, giving us much to celebrate
Because of your support, partners and guests don’t have to wonder whether food will be there when they need it most.
When USDA food supplies declined significantly last year, we purchased additional food to fill the gap and provided financial credits to 120 partner pantries to help them respond to supply disruptions and surges in demand.
We are also investing in long‑term resilience, including nearly $700,000 in the coming months to purchase approximately 400,000 pounds of high‑quality, culturally inclusive protein, free to our partners. We can do these things because of the support we receive from our amazing donors.
Thank you for the confidence you have in us and for standing with us through your continued investments of time, resources, and voice.
A recommitment to our strategic goals
Against the backdrop of uncertainty and continued elevated needs, we recently revisited the four strategic goals we set in 2022 as part of our 5-year plan. We asked ourselves: Are we still on the right track? The answer is a resounding yes. Our strategic goals remain as urgent as ever.
Between now and 2028, we remain committed to:
- Eliminating disparities in access to nutritious food
- Improving the health of our guests
- Supporting household financial stability
- Maintaining a strong and sustainable food bank
These goals, our commitment to our guests, our partners, volunteers and our donors, remain our beacon to achieve what must be done; to change the trajectory of food insecurity, not just respond to it.
Join us on this journey
I hope you’ll join us on this journey to achieve real, meaningful, enduring change. There are many ways to get involved, and there’s much work to be done. I have never been more confident that we, together, can overcome any obstacle. I see resilience every day, I see true partnership every day, and I experience care in action, every day.
We are a community that refuses to accept hunger as inevitable. That’s why, even in uncertain times, I am so hopeful for the future.
It’s because of you.
