Food for Kids Summer Feeding Service Program Update
A huge thank you goes out to our incredible pantry partners who made this possible. Your dedication, collaboration and care helped make this summer a success for so many.
This summer, we were proud to serve children and families at 120 sites from June to August. These sites were a combination of 69 in-person congregate sites, 51 non-congregate grab and go sites and direct delivery to Harmon County, ensuring access to nutritious meals when school was out. While we are still finalizing our total meal count, we are thrilled to report that many thousands of meals were served, an impact we look forward to sharing in full detail soon.
Food for Health
The Food for Health team has developed and implemented an initiative to address food insecurity among patients in for-profit healthcare spaces. An adaptable training program was created to help healthcare professionals understand the impact of food insecurity on patient health, the benefit of screening for food insecurity in clinics, as well as how to locate programs and resources that can address the food and nutrition needs of their patients that are offered by the Regional Food Bank and partnering organizations. The training program is based on current research in food insecurity and health and is customizable to the scope of work for each partner organization.
In the month of June, the Food for Health team delivered the training to a group of thirty medical personnel as part of the CARES hour for the Medical Home Network. The Medical Home Network covers patient care across the state, and includes various healthcare providers such as hospital administrators, physicians, nurses, and social workers. The Food for Health team also delivered the training to a group of social workers with Fresenius Kidney Care of South Oklahoma City. The Fresenius team treats renal patients, of which there is a high instance of food insecurity. Through both tailored trainings, we were able to coach healthcare workers on how to find local food resources for their patients, as well as create referral pathways for patients to access those sustainable, on-going resources and address disease management and overall health through food access.
Food for Seniors
The Food for Seniors team is partnering with RSVP of Central Oklahoma (www.rsvpokc.org) to connect older adult volunteers with older adults in need of food assistance. RSVP members currently volunteer at two of the three Regional Food Bank senior food pantries in Oklahoma City Housing Authority sites.
Additionally, the Regional Food Bank will be hosting an RSVP Volunteer Leadership Summit from 9 a.m. to 1p.m. Tuesday, Nov 18. The summit is free to attend and will feature sessions on how to utilize skilled older adult volunteers, making the most of your volunteer time, as well as destigmatizing aging in nonprofits and volunteer organizations. Both individual volunteers and anyone who manages or leads volunteers are encouraged to attend. We’d love volunteer coordinators from across our partner network to join us. For more information on the summit, email Mason Weaver, Regional Food Bank senior programs manager, mweaver@rfbo.org or Jamie Williams, director of volunteer programs at RSVP, jamie.williams@rsvpokc.org.
Food for Communities
Partner Agency Conference (PAC)
Save the Date! We’re excited to announce the upcoming Partner Agency Conference (PAC)! Join us on Friday, March 27 at the Regional Food Bank. More details, including RSVP information and session content, will be shared in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Retail Recovery Reporting Transition
We are excited to announce the transition to MealConnect for partners who participate in the Retail Recovery Program. MealConnect is developed and operated by Feeding America and offers enhanced features to support program operations and data collection, addressing the limitations of the current platform. Additionally, this transition will create opportunities for increased retail recovery grants in the future, benefiting you as valued partners.
USDA Compliance Reminder
A reminder for all of our USDA/TEFAP distributing partners, if your agency is requiring proof of address, ID verification or other items to receive food, please be sure to specify that those requirements are for non-USDA items and that this review be separate from the eligibility review to receive USDA items.
SNAP Outreach Program Update
At this time, unfortunately, the contract funding that supported our SNAP outreach program will not be renewed. As a result, this program will sunset on Tuesday, Sept. 30. This decision was not made lightly, as we deeply recognize the importance of the SNAP application assistance program and the impact it has had on our community.
We remain committed to supporting our neighbors and ensuring a smooth transition. Hunger Free Oklahoma will continue to offer SNAP assistance through their hotline. Neighbors may call 877-760-0114 or visit hungerfreeok.org/SNAP and click “Request a Call” from their SNAP Hotline team. Assistance is available in English and Spanish from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and in Zomi from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.
We deeply value the partnership and collaboration that made this SNAP outreach program possible. We will keep you informed of any new opportunities to work together toward our shared goals.
Link2Feed Neighbor Data Analysis with Dr. Craig Gundersen
We are pleased to share a significant development in our data-driven strategy work. Over the past several months, we have partnered with Dr. Craig Gundersen—a nationally recognized expert in food insecurity and contributor to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap—to analyze three years of Link2Feed data (2022–2025).
This analysis focuses on agencies with consistent data and clients with full-year records, aiming to uncover patterns in food access and align those with food insecurity trends across Oklahoma.
Key Findings of his analysis includes:
- Visit Frequency: Distribution of number of visits per year
- Demographics: Characteristics of visits by year and by number of agencies visited
- Geographic Trends: Visits and pounds distributed by county and zip code, mapped against food insecurity data
We are working with Dr. Gundersen to schedule a time for his return trip to Oklahoma (you may recall he was here October 2024 to present on Food Insecurity), where he will present his findings to our partners, board members, and staff. Once dates of scheduled, we will send out notification: we are aiming for late October or early November.