A Letter from our President & CEO page 2

35th Anniversary Year in Review page 3

Welcome Fulton Countypage 4

2017 Events Recappage 4

WINTER 2018NEWSLETTER

INSIDE THIS EDITION

THOUGHTFOOD

for

Because of your support, 2017 was another banner year for River Bend Foodbank. We are excited to share highlights of the year with you.

First of all, thanks to everyone who helped celebrate River Bend Foodbank’s 35th Anniversary. From the January press conference announcing that we were halfway to our goal of ending hunger in eastern Iowa and western Illinois to the new Fill the Bowl event in December, more people than ever got involved, volunteered, made a special gift, or found a way to stop food from being wasted, helping us get it to someone in need.

Together, we provided more meals to hungry people than ever before. We set new 35-year records for the most meals distributed in a single month in March, May, October, and again in November. For the year, we distributed over 12.9 million meals, which was 15% more than last year and 75% more than just three years ago.

An affirmation of the good work we are doing together came from the addition of another county to our service area. With the need as acute as it is in Peoria, we were asked to take over Fulton County. Originally skeptical of being served from farther away, our new agencies are now delighted with the partnership.

We marked the 35th Anniversary by celebrating the rich history of River Bend Foodbank and pointing toward our future goals. We received a special message from founding Executive Director Tom Laughlin and his wife, Caren, at our September Wine & Dine event. And the extended family of our late founding Board Chair, Bud Vogel, closed the year by volunteering at the Foodbank Christmas weekend.

Building on the legacy of those three pioneers, we remain focused on the vision of a hunger-free Iowa and Illinois. There are 124,270 people missing 22.3 million meals in the now 23 counties we serve. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing until every one of them has access to a sufficient supply of nutritious food.

Thank you for celebrating with us. Thank you for helping us distribute more food to hungry people than ever before. This is only happening because thousands of you are spreading the word about this cause, volunteering your time, and providing financial support. Every $1 provides 5 meals for people in need. Together we can solve hunger.™

Michael P. Miller President & CEO

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO

BOARD OF DIRECTORSOfficers:Trish Huber Chairman

Janet MathisVice Chair/Secretary

Matthew O’Brien Treasurer

John WeberImmediate Past Chairman

Directors:Daniel JoinerChad LewisJan MartinMichael MillerKevin O’HaraBen PattersonTami Petsche Marie Ziegler

4010 Kimmel DriveDavenport, IA 52802-2404

riverbendfoodbank.org

We remain focused on the

vision of a hunger-free Iowa

and Illinois...We’re going to

keep doing what we’re doing

until every one of them has

access to a sufficient supply of

nutritious food.

Find us on FacebookFacebook.com/RiverBendFoodbank

Follow us on TwitterTwitter.com/RiverBendFood

2017 was River Bend Foodbank’s 35th Anniversary, and it was a year full of change, improvements, and growth.

We commemorated the milestone by holding a media conference in January to kick off the year-long celebration, where our special 35th Anniversary logo was unveiled to the public.

One of the most noticeable changes was the launch of our new and improved website, riverbendfoodbank.org. The new website makes it easier for our users to take action against hunger by donating, volunteering, and getting involved, as well as enabling visitors to find partner agencies near them more efficiently.

This summer, our warehouse was given a facelift with new graphics, paint, and racking endcap signs which reinforce our mission, vision, and values. Thank you to Durham Remodeling and DMW Design for their outstanding work.Our signage was also updated to include our “refreshed” logo that was created in 2016.

Backpack Program – 89,304 backpacks were given out at 80 schools in 2017.

Mobile Food Pantry Program – 1,163,741 meals were delivered at 131 Mobile Food Pantries.

Partner Agencies – 193 Partner Agencies supplied 8.6 million meals in 2017.

School Pantries – 24 school pantries provided 229,343 meals.

Senior Pantries – 9 senior pantries distributed 206,676 meals.

35TH YEAR WAS A GOOD ONE!

35TH YEAR NUMBERS

Operations We continue to raise our standards of cleanliness, food safety, inventory accuracy, and customer service. In August, Michelle Dickson was hired as our Chief Operating Officer. Operational changes in the warehouse have allowed us to increase productivity. Multiple agencies can now be served and loaded in a significantly less amount of time than before these changes occurred. This difference means the agencies are spending less time at the Foodbank and more time serving those who are in need at their respective sites. A revised layout of the shopping area has reduced the number of times people and forklifts cross paths, vastly increasing the safety of the agencies that visit the warehouse to select fresh produce and bakery items. Monthly distribution records were set multiple times throughout the year.

15-RBFIL-0218-N

Fulton County, Illinois, has been served for many years by the Peoria Area Food Bank, but the tremendous need in Peoria did not allow them to make Fulton County a priority.

There are 4,700 food-insecure people in Fulton County, and those people are missing 842,800 meals per year. In the past 12 months, Peoria has only been able to provide 212,862 of those meals.

Since the Feeding America food banks in Illinois work in conjunction with one another, the Peoria Area Food Bank, Eastern Illinois Foodbank in Urbana, and River Bend Foodbank got together to address this situation. It was agreed that the optimal solution was for River Bend to take over responsibility for Fulton County.

While it may seem surprising to have Fulton County served from the Quad Cities instead of Peoria, we already serve 17 other counties in Illinois, including Knox County to the north and McDonough County to the west. We often say at River Bend Foodbank, “A hungry person 100 miles away is just as important as one right next door,” and we look forward to working with our new partner agencies that are serving Fulton County to ensure everyone has access to the food they need to live an active, healthy life.

We welcome Fulton County to the River Bend Foodbank family.

“With your pricing and more variety, I am excited about

the change and look forward to our relationship. Thank

you for taking on our area.”

Jeff Stanley, First Baptist Church Food Pantry,

Canton, IL

Fill The Bowl was held on Sunday, December 10th, at the Foodbank. The goal of this event was to bring our community together (at a very busy time of year) to share a meal, participate in a volunteer activity, and learn more about the hunger issue in our community, all while having fun.

We know from talking with people in our communities that you really have to see River Bend Foodbank to understand the scope of the hunger-relief effort in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. That is exactly what occurred with the over 350 people who attended.

We are grateful to all those who participated and to all our sponsors who helped make this first-time event possible: Ascentra Credit Union, Arconic, Dish Cares, Galaxy One, Isabel Bloom, Quad Cities Builders & Remodelers Association, Thunder Bay Grille, UnityPoint Health-Trinity.In-kind sponsors: Hy-Vee, DMW Design, Marie Ziegler, Whitey’s Ice Cream.

In September, 200 guests joined us at our second annual Wine & Dine for a Cause. This event featured a 4-course meal with wine and food pairings, silent auction, wine pull, and a presentation on hunger in our community with a request to support financially our mission of ending hunger in the 23 counties that we serve.

The results of the event were tremendous—over 200,000 meals will be distributed because of the generosity of those in attendance!

WELCOME FULTON COUNTYFILL THE BOWL A FULFILLING EVENT

WINE & DINE A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS

River City Tire & Automotive Ascentra Credit Union

Dispatch/Argus/QCOnline Lexus of Quad Cities

Necker’s Jewelers

The 2018 Wine & Dine event will be held on September 13, 2018. If you would like more information please email Nancy at nrenkes@riverbendfoodbank.org.

We want to thank everyone who joined us and our sponsors:

UnityPoint Health-Trinity