Food Security United States Project #7590

Help Us Fight Hunger Across America

by Move For Hunger

Project Report | May 12, 2020
Move For Hunger Responds To Covid-19 Pandemic

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director & Founder

Ridgewood Moving Provides To Hometown Heroes

The COVID-19 Pandemic has had a devastating economic impact and drastically increased the need for emergency food assistance nationwide. Move For Hunger is actively searching for ways to meet the demand, and our network of 1,000 moving companies is in a unique position to help.

Move For Hunger is helping food banks all across the country during these unprecedented times. Food banks need trucks to deliver supplies to their warehouses and distribution centers. With a fleet of trucks, experienced drivers, and crews capable of doing the heavy lifting, our network can provide reliable transportation assistance and free up resources for the food banks to use elsewhere. Our team is working every day to connect moving companies that want to help with the food banks who so desperately need it.

Before the pandemic hit, 37 million people were already facing hunger in the US everyday, including more than 11 million children and nearly 5.4 millions senior citizens. Since the start of the pandemic however, the number of people experiencing food insecurity for the first time in their lives is increasing dramatically. Already vulnerable, low-income populations--including school-aged children receiving free/reduced lunch, senior citizens, people experiencing homelessness, and service workers--are even more at risk now during the crisis. With unemployment at historic highs, many will be visiting food banks and pantries for the first time. Move For Hunger’s goal is to be able to also support this new population of vulnerable individuals who are now food insecure with the expansion of our programs during these extenuating circumstances. Since its programs directly benefit food banks and pantries across the US, its food rescue and transportation solutions are able to directly serve at-risk groups that have been impacted by COVID-19.

In just the short time since Covid-19 hit, Move For Hunger has immediately stepped in to provide ad-hoc transportation assistance to help emergency food providers meet heightened demand. We already have helped to transport over 540,000 pounds of food, providing 453,000 meals for our neighbors in need across the United States.

There are so many stories of our network in actions. Our transportation partners have answered the call for support during the crisis in so many different ways. Here are just a few...

The Food Share of Ventura County, CA reached out to Move For Hunger for assistance when they needed transportation for multiple shipments of much-needed supplies. Worldwide Moving & Storage, one of the newest members of Move For Hunger’s network, immediately responded to the call, and within a half hour of a first phone call to them, Move For Hunger had scheduled a delivery of nearly 3,000 pounds of lemons. Days later, Worldwide Moving & Storage also assisted in the delivery of 20 pallets of paper products and 20 pallets of diapers to Food Share, which had been donated by Procter and Gamble. A donation of that size would have taken Food Share eight trips with their small box truck, but Worldwide Moving & Storage's 26-foot trailer was able to haul it in just two trips, which freed up time for the Food Share driving team to continue recovering and distributing food. Worldwide Moving & Storage continues to assist when needed and recently helped transport over 15,000 pounds of cucumbers and tomatoes to Food Share.

Just-In Time Moving & Storage of Arizona has helped to transport over 130,000 pounds of food over the last several weeks, providing over 108,000 meals to the United Food Bank in Mesa, AZ. They have also volunteered to help the United Food Bank by delivering pallets of emergency food bags bi-weekly throughout the crisis to help support the food bank’s ‘to-go’ meals and will continue to do so as the need continues.

Move For Hunger recently partnered with Materne North America, the manufacturers of GoGo Squeez applesauce to help supply first responders, school districts, and food banks across the country with much needed snacks to fuel their days. Over 57,000 pounds of GoGo Squeez packets have been delivered so far, with additional product donation deliveries already being scheduled. The donation transports have happened all across the country, including in NJ, NY, TX, CA, and GA, helping to support hometown heroes as well as food banks and pantries.

HungryRoot, an online grocery company, reached out to Move For Hunger when they wanted to donate tens of thousands of pounds of their healthy and nutritious quinoa cups to those in need. Members of Move For Hunger’s network across the US came together to support this large-scale transport to food banks, providing over 15,000 meals to those in need across the country. This was a first-time collaboration between HungryRoot and Move For Hunger.

To read more about our Covid-19 relief efforts, please click here. Thank you for your continued support!

Just In Time Moving Supports Local Food Bank

Premium Q Moving Delivers To Project Soup

Links:

Move For Hunger's Covid-19 Relief Page

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Jan 28, 2020
10 Years Of Fighting Hunger

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director & Founder

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Dear Friends,

Move For Hunger’s 10th Anniversary was everything we hoped it could be. In 2019, we made sure to recognize the companies, volunteers, and donors who have transformed our scrappy little start-up into a nationally-recognized non-profit organization. We continued to build on that foundation by expanding our multi-family program, developing new employee engagement experiences, and by welcoming new partners, such as Assurant, Kastle, and CarsArrive to our movement. And, most importantly, we established new records by collecting more than 3.6 million lbs. of food and providing 3 million meals to people who are facing hunger.

Over the next 3 years, Move For Hunger will continue to create sustainable processes that we can ingrain within the moving, multi-family, and relocation industries. We need to explore new opportunities, like freight shipping, to figure out the best way to utilize the transportation resources that are already on the road. And, ideally, we will find a way to incorporate refrigerated trucks into our fleet, so that we can help food banks receive more of the fresh produce, meat, and dairy products that they so desperately need. When I founded Move For Hunger back in 2009, I didn’t know much about the problems that I was trying to address. I saw resources that were being underutilized and an industry that had the capacity to help. For a long time, our solution to hunger and food waste was simple: rescue the billions of pounds of food we are wasting every year and get it to the people who need it most. Move For Hunger provided the platform and process for companies to take action in their local communities. And it worked! As the years went on, though, I learned even more about the issues we were trying to tackle. The sad truth of it is, hunger and food waste are complicated problems that require complicated solutions. The work Move For Hunger is doing is incredibly important, and I’m proud of the tremendous growth we’ve seen over the past year. But it’s still not enough. Hunger is merely a symptom of poverty, and we, as non-profits, for-profits, and individual citizens, need to start taking steps to address the root causes. Rescuing food is certainly better than throwing it away, but we must rethink the supply chain if we hope to eliminate food waste entirely. Moving forward, we have to confront these issues head on. Which is why, in the years ahead, we will be providing our network with better educational resources, adding new content to our website, and integrating opportunities for further discussion into our corporate and community activations.

Move For Hunger has always been a creative, dynamic organization and we will continue to adapt when we see an opportunity to make a greater impact. This is a natural progression, not a departure from what has made us successful. Although hunger may be on the decline, hard times will eventually come again. Our food banking partners are expanding their programming to meet new challenges and serve more people. We commit to do the same.

Thank you.

Assurant Employee Engagement Event

Rosecity Truck Pull

Movers Doing Good!

Movers In Action

Multi-family Food Collection Materials

Links:

2019 Move For Hunger Year In Review

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Nov 1, 2019
Make an Investment in Move For Hunger's Future

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director/Founder

Move For Hunger officially turned 10 years on August 26...I can hardly believe I just typed that sentence! I have been on the road quite a bit over the past few months and the events I attended were a timely reminder of why I am still so passionate about this cause.

On August 10, I was back in Michigan for the second annual Detroit Truck Pull, presented by Kroger. Last year, we raised an amazing $25,000 at the event, but Ben Cross of University Moving & Storage, Jill Partaka of V-Suite, and the rest of the Detroit Regional Relocation Council, were confident that they were going to top it in 2019.

Back in 2009, I was pretty much alone in the conference room at my dad's office trying to figure out how I could convince other moving companies to buy into this idea we had. So, to be surrounded by the 200+ people who chose to spend a summer Saturday pulling a moving truck to support Move For Hunger was kind of surreal. We had a great time, raised awareness about hunger & food waste, and, true to their word, the planning committee raised more than $40,000, including a surprise $5,000 donation from Kroger on the day of the event!

After spending a few days back at home in New Jersey, I was off to Minneapolis to meet with the Minnesota Employee Relocation Council. It was exciting to meet some of our current partners face to face and introduce our programs to some new ones.

My goal on this trip was to help large corporations based in Minneapolis see the value of encouraging their employees to donate their food when they move, while also highlighting the incredible network of moving, relocation, corporate housing, and real estate partners we currently work with. I hadn't been to Minneapolis in many years, and it was so rewarding to return and find so many people championing our cause. I was so encouraged to see that, even though Move For Hunger's network has expanded exponentially over the last decade, the potential for growth is still there.

I still believe in the work Move For Hunger is doing because I can see the results. Together, we have provided more than 12.6 million meals to people facing hunger in the U.S. and Canada. Our network has already delivered 2.6 million lbs. of food this year, which matches our total from all of 2018. Despite all of the amazing things we have accomplished, I am convinced that our best work is yet to be done.

But, ultimately, the only thing that matters is if YOU still believe in our mission. Move For Hunger can't continue to organize food drives, coordinate food rescues, or expand the network without your continued support.

More than 40 million Americans rely on the assistance they receive from their local food bank or pantry. The food banks rely on the donations they receive from organizations like Move For Hunger. And we rely on people like you to keep us moving. You have been so generous in the past, and I hope we can count on you again to make an investment in our future.

Links:

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