DID YOU KNOW? More than 2.3 billion people are without food or unable to eat a healthy balanced diet on a regular basis. — Ensuring reliable, daily access to nutritious meals strengthens concentration, the ability to fully participate in school and patterns that sustain long-term physical health.
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An international nonprofit that supports community-led solutions to alleviate hunger in more than 40 countries by sustaining, uniting, and strengthening food banks. GFN believes food banks directed by local leaders are key to achieving Zero Hunger and building resilient food systems.
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Community members receive meal kits provided by Feeding India's Feed the Daily Wager program.
Achieving Greater Together: Northern Trust’s Month of Service
Building on Northern Trust’s legacy of service, for every one hour of volunteering performed during our October 2021 focused month of service called Achieving Greater Together, Northern Trust committed to donate 50 meals to organizations fighting hunger. As a result of employees’ volunteer service, approximately 602,500 meals have been donated to hunger relief organizations around the globe. The donations were made through The Global FoodBanking Network—an international nonprofit that supports community-led solutions to alleviate hunger in more than 40 countries by sustaining, uniting, and strengthening food banks—and its partners including Feeding America and the European Food Banks Federation.
"Every year, I look forward to participating in Achieving Greater Together and seeing the positive impact our employees make around the globe,” says Mike O’Grady, Northern Trust Corporation's chairman and chief executive officer. “Their commitment and passion exemplify an authentic sense of purpose that truly sets Northern Trust apart.”
To encourage giving back, Northern Trust also grants employees two paid days off to volunteer at the charitable organizations that are important to them.
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The largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., Feeding America works to advance change in America by ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all.
Providing fuel for student minds and bodies
A student picks up groceries at Greater Chicago Food Depository Healthy Student Market at Harold Washington City College, Chicago, Ill.
Feeding America is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that provide food and support to over 40 million people annually. Northern Trust’s dollars and volunteer hours have gone to both the parent organization, as well as their partners like The Greater Chicago Food Depository, The Houston Food Bank and the Sloatsburg Food Pantry.
At the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Northern Trust’s funding helped purchase and distribute nutritious food across the City College of Chicago campuses and pantries, located on the South and West sides, to support thousands of students and young adults, ages 16-24, during the 2021-2022 school year.
“Thanks to our generous donors, like Northern Trust, the Greater Chicago Food Depository has been able to keep up with rising food costs amid increased demand,” says Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of Greater Chicago Food Depository. “By taking hunger off the table, we enable families, including young adults, to focus on other priorities, like education, growth and security.”
Redemptorist Perpetual Help Fund is an organization that helps the vulnerable population to meet their basic needs. They work to alleviate poverty, and its socio-economic and health-related consequences, with a particular focus on the elimination of food poverty.
Sustenance for the holidays—and year-round
According to The Irish Central Statistics Office, 8 percent of those living in the Redemptorist Perpetual Help Fund’s home-base of Limerick and surrounding areas experience food poverty. There, Northern Trust’s funds help facilitate the provision and distribution of 6,000 hampers of food to families and individuals in need each Christmas. Redemptorists also works year-round to support and coordinate food distribution. “As well as our efforts at Christmas, we also work all year round to support and coordinate food distribution,” says Fr. Séamus Enright, C.Ss.R (The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer). “We directly fund several meals on wheel initiatives and support numerous food banks. As a founding member of the Limerick Food Partnership, we strive not just to provide food but also to educate on food related issues such as budgeting, food nutrition and preparation, food waste and healthy eating.”
Teresa Delaney and Fr. Séamus Enright with donated goods.
The Felix Project is a London-based food redistribution charity with a dual purpose: to reduce food waste and use rescued surplus food to fight poverty and hunger.
Rescuing food and people
In London, there are 1.5 million adults and 400,000 children living in food poverty or insecurity.
At the same time, more than 3 million tons of edible food waste are generated annually by the commercial food industry in the U.K., according to the organization. The Felix Project rescues surplus food by working with well over 500 suppliers such as wholesalers, supermarkets, farms, shops, restaurants and hotels. The team is assisted by an army of volunteers, who sort and redistribute it for free to nearly 1,000 frontline charities, schools and holiday programs across London.
“The funds kindly donated by Northern Trust contributed to our food redistribution programme, and allow us to rescue surplus food from suppliers and distribute said food to organisations and charities across London. It will allow us to redistribute the equivalent of 91,500 meals to those who need them most.”
The Felix Project volunteers loading crates of food for delivery.
Helping to alleviate global hunger
The organization I support is wholly run by volunteers. It operates a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes about 11,000 daily meals to over 70 locations island wide, 365 days a year. Beneficiaries include the elderly, the disabled, low-income families, children, or otherwise poverty stricken families and migrant workers in Singapore. I’ve volunteered with them since 2019. What motivates me to give my time is to be able to contribute a bit to alleviate global hunger.”
COVID brings greater needs for food
“Food insecurity and homelessness are causes that have been important to me since I was in elementary school. I started volunteering my time to help distribute food locally through the Sloatsburg Food Pantry (SFP) and was overwhelmed with the incredible generosity and sense of community. When I became involved SFP was a small pantry based out of a tiny church basement serving 125 families. The pandemic grew the demand to 450 families at its peak, and we continue to serve an average of 350 families. To meet the need it became clear we needed to find a larger space for the pantry. With the generosity of members of our community and organizations such as Northern Trust, we were able to build out a larger space to continue to serve a larger population and expand our reach to the broader community.”
