Connecticut Food Bank

We seek to alleviate hunger by providing nutritious food to people in need and to raise awareness of the challenges facing food-insecure people in Connecticut.

We do this by working with financial donors, food industry partners, volunteers and a network of community-based hunger relief programs and human service organizations to distribute food and to support coordinated hunger awareness efforts.

Through a combination of national, regional, and local partnerships, Connecticut Food Bank acquires and distributes nutritious food to people in need. Connecticut Food Bank works in partnership with New England region food banks and with Feeding America, the nation's leading hunger relief charity, to secure bulk donations of food and fresh produce from national manufacturers, wholesalers, food industry associations, and the United States Department of Agriculture. Food donations are also supplied by local retailers and farmers through the Food Bank’s Retail Store Donation Program and Farm-to-Pantry Program, which supply Connectictu Food Bank and its member agencies with fresh produce and retail food donations.
Connecticut Food Bank also receives funding from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal program that helps provide emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost for low-income households. Connecticut Food Bank contracts with the State of Connecticut to distribute TEFAP commodities in its service area. The Connecticut Department of Social Services contracts with Connecticut Food Bank to distribute food throughout the state through the State Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SSNAP or CTNAP). Connecticut Food Bank purchases high protein items and other nutritionally beneficial supplemental foods under this program for distribution to eligible feeding programs. Connecticut Food Bank purchases food for othoer sources to supplement our food supply chain when needed.
Direct-to-client programs include; The Mobile Pantry, Pop-up Pantries (both drive-through and walk-up), the Dairy Express fresh milk program and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) senior box.

Connecticut Food Bank provides the bulk of the food that it acquires to a network of around 600 community-based food-assistance programs including; outreach partners, affiliate distribution centers and member programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, qualified residential programs, and day programs that serve low-income families, elderly and youth.
Connecticut Food Bank distributes food through our centralized distribution Center in Wallingford and transports food with a fleet of 15 vehicles, including customized refrigerated mobile distribution trucks and vans, tractor trailers and box trucks that bring food directly to residents of low-income neighborhoods.
Connecticut Food Bank employs 57 staff members, and has a pool of more than 6,000 volunteers who help us carry out our mission to supply nutritious food to people in need.

Last fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, we distributed over 28 million pounds of food, through more than 600 food access points, serving over 148,000 people each month, and feeding them the equivalent of 23,333,333 meals during the fiscal year.
We procure food when available to us through local, regional and national food supply channels and through food donations. Our costs to purchase food have increased, as the supply chain has become more challenging to navigate as a result of COVID-19. We have seen the need in our service are increase over 40% - from 275,000 individuals to nearly 400,000 individuals who are now food insecure. Many of the people who are in need of food assistance are using our food safety net support for the first time.