Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger

Purchased this book because it was recommended by staff in a major, national food bank. Dr. Martin makes the case for how health and food insecurity is tied together and the book provides an outline for why food pantries need to be about much more than emergency food supply. Read this book and you will see this topic in an entirely new light.

The food insecurity biz is a funny old world. Drunk on our own virtue, it is sometimes hard to contemplate we might be doing it wrong - or at least might be doing some things better. I remember driving to our Pantry through deserted streets in the early days of the pandemic - no WFH options for us - to serve the hundreds of new folks who suddenly and desperately needed help. I wasn't even getting paid, so it was obvious to me Sainthood was just around the corner!And yet, and yet, something about the Pantry and the vast food insecurity system in America had always troubled me. Surely with the billions of pounds of food being thrown at the problem every year, it should be solved by now. Katie Martin's book helps explain why it has not, and how, at least in non-COVID times, we could indeed be doing better. Written in a very conversational style, it is a quick read but also contains lots of references to a wealth of deeper resources that in turn lead to yet more.To be honest, I was primed not to like this book - food pantries and food banks (where Dr Martin works) are in an odd relationship. I guess I was expecting more of a "I'm from corporate and I'm here to help" flavor to the writing. But for the most part, the book anticipates and addresses that objection, though you might pick up faint echoes of it if you are particularly sensitized to that sort of thing. Definitely does not warrant dilution of the solid five stars.In short, my best compliment for the book is that I wish I had written it, even though I don't have an ounce of the knowledge and experience of the author. At least she doesn't veer completely into my lane - which is the vast comedic potential of my and I suspect all pantries and food banks. Amidst the sadness and tragedy, there is no more satisfying day at the office than having a laugh with a guest or fellow volunteer about something or nothing, and how we all came to be in such a pickle.

I love everything about what Dr. Martin has to say in this book. I am the executive director for a food rescue organization that partners with about 75 food pantries around the city, and have been doing this for over 5 years. There are so many rewarding things about this job, but two things drive me absolutely crazy: 1) using the measurement of pounds of food rescued/distributed as a metric of success; and 2) the lack of food distributions that occur outside of the M-F, 8-5 window. Why can't there be a "no cost grocery store" that keeps hours like a commercial store? Why can't pantries pool their resources? Wouldn't it be better to measure our success by the number of people that have found food security? Isn't the end goal to work ourselves out of a job?Dr. Martin's book not only validates much of what I had been arguing, it also provides several "Aha!" moments. The timing of the release of this book couldn't be better. We have all seen the huge lines of cars waiting for mass food distributions and the throngs of volunteers loading pre-packed boxes of food into the backs of the cars to cycle through 1500 cars in less than a few hours. But this "efficiency" model has set us back at least a decade with regard to providing dignity and choice to everyone. As we make efforts to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (and there is no doubt that this recovery will not be a quick one), we need to focus on resilience and coming back even better. This book provides some great thought-provoking ideas, and backs it up with tons of resources to help us take these steps.I recommend this book to absolutely anyone who is involved with providing resources to help people find food security!

It is hard to imagine that food insecurity exists in America! This book offers insight on the growing problem as well as innovative and practical ways to begin tackling the issue of hunger relief in America. You don't have to be in the field of food banking to relate to this this issue and this book. Katie Martin really delivers the goods on how to begin changing the mindset and the stigma around hunger in America as well as offers real solutions to the problem.

Ms Martin makes a convincing case for reimagining how we frame hunger in relation to a host of social dislocations that magnify not only food insecurity but more worryingly social vulnerability. The partnerships for which she advocates could be transformational. The American Rescue Plan includes sizeable funding for nutrition assistance. Now is the time to implement the vision for the Beloved Community that would meet the best hopes of the last half century.

I love this book. For the last year my non-profit has been in the trenches. I popped my head up and found someone had written my story. This book is real-life social justice road map with step by step actions that can have an impact on all Americans. I love it!!!! Following closely.

A practical and thoughtful review of our food bank and food pantry system and a roadmap to a holistic process that addresses the complex processes that lead to food insecurity.

A must read if you are a volunteer/manager/director of a food panty! Or if you are interested in how to help the food insecure. Lots of information and action items.