Second Harvest Community Food Bank of Saint Joseph will implement a new senior box program that will be available to distribution sites that have provided Commodity Supplemental Food Program boxes to eligible seniors. The new program will be available at no cost starting in October.
Chief Executive Officer Chad Higdon says Second Harvest’s “goal is to make sure individuals in need have the support and resources they need,” which “includes…seniors who have been relying on an external federal program.”
The food bank will distribute about 1,000 food boxes to seniors in need each month throughout the region. The service area includes the Green Hills counties of Caldwell, Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Livingston, and Mercer.
The Missouri Hunger Atlas estimates that almost 10% of seniors live below poverty in the 15 Missouri counties Second Harvest serves.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Bureau of Community Food and Nutrition Assistance notified Second Harvest in August that the bureau would not renew the contract for the United States Department of Agriculture Commodity Supplemental Food Program for the upcoming fiscal year.
Higdon says the food bank is “very disappointed” with the decision, but it understands the state’s reasoning. He calls the announcement “a setback” for Second Harvest, but he notes the organization “will work…to find solutions to continue to serve seniors in need.”
Contact Second Harvest Community Food Bank for more information at 816-364-3663 or info@shcfb.org.
