BISMARCK, ND ( KXNET ) — This year, the Great Plains Food Bank is celebrating 15 years for the success of their food recovery program across the state, which has grown immensely over the years to serve many families in the community that are in need.

According to Feeding America, more than 92 billion pounds of food goes uneaten and into the garbage, which is almost 40% of the nation’s food supply. Here in North Dakota, the Great Plains Food Bank has been working to rescue food from groceries stores that is still safe and edible.
Those food items are then donated.

In the Bismarck-Mandan area, they have a small staff, including two truck drivers who make daily runs to pick up surplus, mislabeled, and perishable food products from local grocery stores, no longer available for purchase. As the program has grown immensely over the years, a distribution center has been added to safely store the large volume of groceries rescued, including fresh and perishable food.

Mandy Cherney, Bismarck Operations Manager of the Great Plains Food Bank, says some of the food donated requires refrigeration, which their distribution center offers. “I think we’ve been able to serve our neighbors a lot better and a lot more efficiently having this space. The food that goes through this program is over a million pounds, that are rescued each year with one driver and one truck,” Cherney said.

All of the recovered food stored at the Bismarck distribution center must then be repackaged and prepared and sent out to 29 partner agencies, who then give it to families in need.
Cherney says more than 2,000 community volunteers have stepped up to help her small staff handle sorting and repackaging the recovered and donated food products at the warehouse.

“I don’t know what we would do without them. They do that hard work, and get all of this food processed for us, so that we can get it out to our food pantries, who then can get it out to the neighbors,” said Cherney.

Since the food recovery program began in 2009, Cherney says the Great Plains Food Bank has rescued more than 12 million pounds of food, valued at more than $23 million, and that has made more than 10 million meals for people who could otherwise not afford them. Along with the grocery recovery program, the Great Plains Food Bank also takes food donations from local organizations and individuals.

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