America's Second Harvest Conference

Monday and Tuesday of this week I attended the Western Region Conference for America's Second Harvest. A2H, as we refer to the organization, is a group of 218 food banks located all across the country focused on serving the needs of the hungry. As a little side note.....John van Hengel, the founder of St Mary's Food Bank, was also one of the founders of A2H and helped many communities in the United States start up their own food banks.

This meeting included Executive Directors and members of the their staffs from approximately 50 food banks serving the western United States. Its hard to explain the energy, compassion, commitment and willingness to share expertise that you feel when this group comes together. Every where you turn, someone has a new idea or a story to tell about the communities they serve. The stories are not only about the folks who receive food from the food banks but include the incredible generosity of our donors.

One quick story..... everyone is aware of the impact of the four hurricanes which hit Florida last year. The A2H network sent almost 300 truck loads of food into the area to support the demand being served by our member food banks in the state. The Fort Myers food bank suffered severe damage to their facility. They received a phone call from a individual in Michigan who had read about their challenge and offered to find and purchase them a new facility. Can you imagine that kind of generosity....just amazing!

One other statistic .....In the last 12 months, the A2H network of food banks gathered and distributed almost 2 BILLION pounds of food into communities all across the USA. A2H is recognized as the leading hunger relief organization in the country.