Of the COVID-19 Pandemic

www.food-finders.org      |      765.471.0062      |      1204 Greenbush Street, Lafayette, IN 47904

As the COVID-19 public health

and economic crisis hit in

March, our team went into

rapid disaster relief mode. As an

essential service, Food Finders

had to immediately transform

our programs, respond to the

increased demand and adapt

to the ever-changing safety

guidelines, in a matter of days.

We made it our top priority to

ensure people we serve,

volunteers and staff remained

safe while increasing

emergency food distributions

throughout our 16-county

service area.

With businesses, factories,

restaurants and schools closed,

we knew we would see an

increased need for food

assistance from our current

clients as well as demand from

new people, recently laid off.

Food Finders made the decision

to focus our limited resources on

our three most impactful

programs; our Agency Partner

and Mobile Pantry programs

and the J.P. Lisack Community

Food Pantry. These programs

serve entire families and seniors

and have the greatest impact

throughout the communities we

serve. Additionally, Food Finders

continues providing food to our

BackPack Programs that are still

operating. We are proud to

report that 95 percent of our

agency partners remained open

and operating – these food

pantries and soup kitchens are

critical to fighting hunger on the

front lines. Together, we have

served nearly 66,000 families

since our relief efforts began.

We are grateful for the many

volunteers who continued

serving at the food bank in the

early weeks of COVID-19 until

the Indiana National Guard was

deployed to help.

We have heard from people

who are struggling to make ends

meet during the pandemic.

Carla has been caring for her

terminally ill father and husband.

“I am the only one working in my

household, but I have been laid

off for more than a month with

no income because our plant

shutdown.” She went on say,

“We are very low on food. I am

behind on every monthly bill we

have.”

Carla was worried about how

she would pay for her family's

medicine from the pharmacy

since she had not yet received

an unemployment check. These

are the real worries of people in

our community.

Robin shared her gratitude while

waiting in the line at our drive-

through pantry, “The security that

Food Finders has provided to my

family at this time has allowed

me to not be scared whether or

not I can feed my children

tomorrow. With this help, I no

longer have to suffer through the

fear I was feeling when I would

go to bed at night.”

These are uncertain times, but

you have been right there with

us, helping us to be a consistent,

stable source of nutritious food

for individuals, families, children,

seniors and veterans across North

Central Indiana. We do not yet

know the long-term impacts of

COVID-19, but thanks to your

generosity, we know we will be

here for people who need us.

Spring 2020

On the front lines

A mother and daughter at our drive-

through pantry at Linwood School.

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For the past nine years, Purdue

University College of Agriculture

has hosted a food and funds

drive to benefit Food Finders

during the spring semester. The

departments within the college

have a friendly competition to

see who can raise the most

meals.

In it's tenth year, the food drive

was scheduled to start in

early April, just weeks after

Purdue University officially shut

down due to COVID-19.

With the uncertainty of the

pandemic, our staff was unsure if

the food drive would take place.

However, the leaders at College

of Ag had other plans. They had

already invited other colleges to

join the drive this year. With

campus closing and students

heading home, they made a last

minute decision to make the

entire event virtual.

The College of Agriculture,

Purdue College of Veterinary

Medicine, Purdue Honors

College, College of Engineering,

Purdue Polytechnic, Purdue

College of Pharmacy, Purdue

Libraries, Purdue College of

Health and Human Sciences, and

Purdue College of Science raised

a total of $82,364 or 248,761

meals for people facing hunger—

a 712% increase over last year!

The top fundraiser was the

College of Agriculture. They

raised $29,225 or 87,675 meals.

The College of Science came in

second place by raising $21,536

or 64,608 meals.

Thank you to our community

partners at Purdue University. The

donation has helped us continue

to serve the growing need in our

community. We are grateful for

your support!

Adecco

Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation

Arconic Corporation

Bauer Family Resources

CareSource

Cargill Incorporated

Centier Bank

Coffin Family Foundation

Community Foundation of Howard County

The Community Foundation

The Community Foundation of Greater

Lafayette - DeFouw Fund

The Community Foundation of Greater

Lafayette - Olson Community

Endowment Fund

Dr. Michael and Maria Hogan Charitable

Fund

Duke Energy Foundation

Evonik Corporation

Freckles Graphics & Bruce Barker

Indiana Packers Corporation

Kettelhut Construction, Inc.

Kroger Central Division

Milestone Contractors

Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation

Tate and Lyle

Tempest Homes

TJX Foundation

Tucker Farms

Tyson Foods

Wabash National Corporation

Walmart Foundation

Western Indiana Community

Foundation

WX Brands

March - April 2020

MAJOR GIFTS Community Partner

Thank you to the following

foundations, businesses and

organizations who provided

contributions of $2,500 or more

to the food bank from

January - April 2020.

S p o t l i g h t

COVID-19 Response 1,035,193 meals served

through our Agency

Partner Program

9,346 households

served through the J.P.

Lisack Drive-through

Pantry

Mobile Pantry Program

distributed 325,400

meals to 5,794

households

246 Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance

Program (SNAP)

applications submitted

2019 College of Ag Food Drivewinners at last year's Blue Jean Ball.

Seventy-five percent of

the people we serve are

in high risk categories for

COVID-19

Thirty percent of people

we are serving have

asked for help

before

never

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Just as our staff was grappling with

how to transform to a safe way of

operating with drastically fewer

volunteers, the state of Indiana

deployed the National Guard to all

11 Indiana food banks. Their mission

is to fulfill duties normally handled by

food bank volunteers in order to

keep the food flowing through our

system.

“It has been a phenomenal

experience to support our local

communities during these

challenging times," said Sgt. Carlile.

"We enlist to protect our state and

nation, down to the communities in

which we live and work. This mission

has been critical to so many

Hoosiers, and we are honored to be

here helping our neighbors.”

The current modifications we have

made to distribute food safely mean

that it must be pre-boxed prior to

distribution. The National Guard has

been crucial to keeping up with this

increased need for box production

by packing thousands of food boxes

each week. They also keep the food

sorted and flowing through our

system and work the added food

distributions we are offering.

We are thankful to be able to work

with the Indiana National Guard to

help keep our community safe and

fed during this time of uncertainty.

Katy'sCORNER

pantry, and the 100 other pantries

we serve in 15 surrounding

counties, stocked with healthy

food.

Food insecurity and

unemployment are directly linked.

As stimulus checks and extra

unemployment dollars diminish,

more and more people will turn to

Food Finders for help. We are

already using some of the

donations you have sent to

prepare for the months ahead. We

will need your continued support

to provide for everyone who has

lost a job due to this pandemic.

The response of this great

community through the current

crisis makes me believe that we will

weather the storm that is coming.

Thank you for the kindness and

generosity you have shown to the

food bank and to those who

depend on us and thank you for

your continued support in the

months ahead.

Sincerely,

I cannot possibly express the depth

of my gratitude to everyone who

has reached out to help Food

Finders during the COVID-19

pandemic. The response from the

community has been

heartwarming and has kept our

staff going through this

unexpected ordeal.

 

As I write this, we have found our

stride. We’ve successfully

converted our J.P. Lisack

Community Food Pantry and

Mobile Pantry Program into drive-

through events. National Guard

members are filling the roles

that our valued volunteers once

filled.  

We are facing the same supply

chain issues that you see at

the grocery store magnified by our

need for large volume and low

cost. We have been able to buy

most of the food we need thanks

to your generous donations.

Once this crisis has passed, Food

Finders will be challenged with

finding enough food to keep our

Indiana National Guard

Katy O'Malley Bunder

President/CEO

Volunteer UpdateOur volunteers are critical to food

bank operations, and we miss all

of you! Last year more than 9,000

individual volunteers came

through our doors and

collectively donated 45,000 hours

of volunteer time to aid in our

mission to end hunger.

We truly cannot do the work that

we do without volunteer support.

Our leadership team is currently

devising a plan to phase in the

return of volunteers by late

summer. We must plan to keep

up with the increased

production demand that our

drive-through distributions now

require, while adhering to

social distancing guidelines

appropriate for our pantry and

volunteer spaces.

covid-19 relief

Indiana National Guard memberssorting food in our warehouse.

3

1204 Greenbush Street

Lafayette, IN 47904

Thank you to our community!

Spring 2020

For a complete list of businesses andorganizations who have donated toFFFB during the pandemic, visit our

website www.food-finders.org.

In early May, our CEO received a call from Coach Sharon Versyp from Purdue

University Women's Basketball. Coach Versyp wanted to do something special for the

people who were attending our weekly food distributions. She contacted Arni's Pizza

owner, Brad Cohen and they came up with a plan to distribute free pizza coupons

for every household attending our food distribution the Thursday before Mother's Day.

“It is an honor to provide hope and comfort to many.  I feel blessed to be in a

position to give back to our community members. I appreciate Arni’s willingness to

partner with Purdue Women’s Basketball for such a worthwhile cause”, says Coach

Versyp.

“With our great relationship with Purdue Basketball, it was an easy partnership with

Coach Versyp and her amazing team," says Brad Cohen. "They were so much fun to

work with for such a needy cause. We love being able to help the community we live

Donor SpotlightFrom the second week in March

when COVID-19 became a

reality for many of us, our staff

has been overwhelmed with

gratitude for all of the volunteers,

individuals, small businesses,

corporate offices, grantors,

musicians, bakers and mask

makers who have reached out to

donate and support our mission

in a variety of creative ways. In

addition to monetary gifts, we

have received equipment

donations, baked goods,

lunches, words of

encouragement, homemade

masks and so much more!

Your thoughtfulness for the

people we serve as well as our

team, working behind the scenes

as essential personnel, is sincerely

appreciated. Thank you.

in, giving them something as

simple as a free pizza not only

provides a much needed

meal, but they get to enjoy it

being safe with their family at

home.”

The coupons were a fun

surprise for the families we

serve providing joy and

something to look forward to

during these uncertain times. 4