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Local Food Bank Distributing Millions Of Meals As Hunger Persists

Anh Gray

About one in seven Nevadans struggle with hunger. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada—or FBNN—distributes millions of pounds of food each year. The organization’s President and CEO Al Brislain says about 70 percent of the families they’re serving live in poverty.

“I mean we’re seeing some really good jobs coming into Reno, and that’s great, but people who don’t have a skill, if they’re on the working end of a shovel, they’re not making that much,” Brislain explains. “And so if they’ve got a couple of kids or a single mom that’s working part-time in a retail shop or something like that, the money that they have, often times the ends don’t meet.”

One in five children in the region don’t know where their next meal will come from. The FBNN serves families, children and seniors by distributing food to community organizations throughout Northern Nevada. Here’s a few facts about the organization’s work.

·        FBNN served more than 14 million meals last year.

·        Nearly 100,000 people in the region are served each month.

·        Half of the people FBNN serves are children and seniors.

·        FBNN distributes food through a network of 140 partner agencies throughout a 90,000 square mile service area.

Anh Gray is a former contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio.
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