Programs

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC's food distribution program is the foundation for all our other programs. We receive food donations from many generous donors which are then distributed to our non-profit partner agencies including emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, low-income day cares, mobile meal programs for seniors and battered women’s shelters. Food is also distributed to children at risk of hunger through our Kids Cafes and BackPack programs , and to targeted partner agencies through our Triad Community Kitchen program. Read more about Second Harvest Food Bank's work to alleviate childhood hunger.

Turning the Tables on Childhood Hunger
More than one-third of the people served by Second Harvest Food Bank emergency assistance program partners are children. Nationwide, over 14 million children face hunger everyday. When basic nutritional needs go unmet, a child's abilities and potential are diminished and communities as a whole suffer. Caring for our children today helps ensure bright futures for them and stronger communities for us all.

Through America’s Second Harvest initiatives like Kids Cafes and The Backpack Program, Second Harvest Food Bank and its program partners are addressing childhood hunger and helping families to stretch limited incomes.

Kids Cafes
Kids Cafes provide youth at risk of hunger with an evening meal, tutoring and enrichment activities three nights a week throughout the year in a safe and nurturing environment.

Program sites are made possible through community partnerships with pre-exisiting after school programs or other interested community and faith-based partners. Community partners provide a location, volunteers, and coordinate the day-to-day operations of the programs, with program oversight provided by our Agency Outreach Coordinator, Nikki Cook (ncook@secondharvest.org).

Second Harvest Food Bank provides cook salaries, staff support, technical assistance, volunteer recruitment support, and food for each Kids Cafe site with support from generous financial supporters like Food Lion, Harris Teeter, High Point Community Foundation, Kate B. Reynolds Poor and Needy Trust, United Way of Forsyth County, Winston-Salem Foundation and Que Pasa. In addition, a portion of proceeds from Empty Bowls, our signature annual fundraiser presented by Texas Pete Sauces, supports the program. Expenses are kept to a minimum through use of the Second Harvest Food Bank’s food distribution program. , as well as its Second Helpings program, which rescues surplus, prepared foods from restaurants, corporate dining rooms, food service organizations and caterers.

You can make a difference in the life of a child. We invite you to support Kids Cafes with your time – serving meals or tutoring youth, with your donations of supplies or with your financial donation.

In Guilford County—

For more information, contact Nikki Cook at ncook@secondharvest.org.

The BackPack Program
The BackPack Program aims to address childhood hunger in rural communities by providing elementary school children at risk of hunger with backpacks full of nutritious, child-friendly foods to take home over the weekends during the school year.

Participating schools have 50% or more of students receiving free or reduced price school meals. Each program distributes a maximum of 50 backpacks per week. Partner agencies pick up donated food from Second Harvest Food Bank and recruit and coordinate volunteers to fill the backpacks for delivery to selected schools each Friday. School teachers and administrators determine which children will participate. Parental consent is required for each child, and student names are kept confidentially at the school.

Lowes Foods has provided support for seven pilot program sites. Second Harvest Food Bank provides backpacks, food, and oversight of the program by our Agency Outreach Coordinator, Nikki Cook at ncook@secondharvest.org. Day-to-day coordination is handled by partner agencies of Second Harvest Food Bank and the schools to which they are matched.

BackPack Program Partners
Lowes Foods has provided funding for seven pilot BackPack Program sites. Each is supported by the Second Harvest Food Bank in collaboration with the following partners:

Triad Community Kitchen

Empowered by your support, construction of Second Harvest Food Bank’s Triad Community Kitchen began in July 2006. Four months after breaking “concrete” in the middle of our warehouse, the 1,400 square foot, industrial grade kitchen was complete. By the middle of January 2007, the first class of students graduated from what is the only program of its kind in Northwest NC.

The Program
Students of Triad Community Kitchen’s free, 10-week culinary training program designed by Guilford Technical College 's Culinary Program are referred by partners like Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC and generally are underemployed or unemployed and in some cases homeless. Throughout the 10-week session, students have the opportunity to “give back” to Second Harvest Food Bank as they use donated and purchased food to produce vacuum sealed, ready-to-heat meals in bags for distribution to our partner agencies.

A Well-Timed Addition Offering Added Convenience for Partner Agencies
Today, Second Harvest Food Bank is well-equipped to process and extend the shelf life of donations of perishable food from our partners in the food industry. And, since like all nonprofits our partner agencies sometimes struggle to secure enough volunteer help, the ready-to-heat meals have been well received.

More About the Curriculum
Under the direction of Chef Jeff Bacon, a certified executive chef, students participate in a ten-week curriculum designed by Guilford Technical College's Culinary Program. Students are trained and certified in ServSafe® sanitation and learn basic culinary skills, knife skills, kitchen safety, mass food production and cook chill technology. Real world job experience is gained through a one-week internship with a local food service organization or restaurant, preparing participants for sustainable, gainful employment in the under staffed food service and hospitality industries.

Overcoming the barriers to employment that many Triad Community Kitchen students have faced is an important key to their ultimate success. For this reason, the program incorporates instruction and activities designed to help them improve their level of workplace readiness.

A national program of America’s Second Harvest, The Nation’s Food Bank Network, there are currently 38 network members operating Community Kitchens across the nation, and an additional 50 independently operated programs.

The class is offered at no charge to the student and bus passes are available.

For general questions about the program, contact Program Director/Executive Chef Jeff Bacon at (336) 784-5770 or jbacon@secondharvest.org.

To apply to enter the program, download and complete the application. For assistance regarding the application process, contact Ms. Rosa Williams at Goodwill Industries at (336) 724-3625.