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That's not all. Throughout the second half of 2021, we grew and modified our Community Distribution program to make it as impactful as possible. We weaved partnerships into the model, locked arms with the Franklin Township Police Department, and pushed out into Franklin with our monthly (sometimes more!) food programming. Now it is a robust, well oiled machine that provides reliable access to fresh produce and more for the people of Franklin and beyond. In 2022, we served over 11,000 families through Community Distribution.
Speaking about "beyond", we've grown outwardly too. It's pretty normal for a food pantry as large as ours to "share" food with other providers. Sometimes we have, for example, zucchini coming out of our ears. How much zucchini bread do you think we can make? So, rather than let it go to waste or burden our clients with the task of re-distributing, we lock arms. We intentionally seek out and welcome partners who can help stretch food further into our broadening community. We skillfully designed a program called Beyond Borders which launched officially in May 2022. At the beginning of the program, we estimated that we would partner with 22 pantries in this first year. We doubled it. At the close of 2022 we had helped over 40 organizations through the Beyond Borders program.
We are excited to continue performing acts of service for this community into 2023. Now that our three programs are rumbling along, we turn our sights towards the planned expansion of 2023, which includes (so far):
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Nutrition Classes for our clients in two languages
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Online Services for our clients, such as scheduling appointments and ordering food online
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School Partnerships to provide food assistance directly to children who need it the most
If we are going to address food insecurity - to really address it - throughout 2023, we must be intentional, energetic and incredibly skillful. It just so happens that "acts of service" is the love language of the Franklin Food Bank and in turn the people inside this special place.
Follow along and we will keep you updated on our successes and challenges throughout 2023. The impact we make is the impact YOU make with your support, your advocacy and the pride you have in our organization. We promise to keep making you proud.
See you out there.
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