Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Inc.

Our VISION is nourishing food and good healthfor everyone, every day.
Our MISSION is to improve food security through equitable access to good nutrition and the resources that support health and well-being.

Our Strategic Plan includes four main goals:
1. Eliminate disparities in access to nutritious food. From transportation to language to stigma, we will work to find ways to alleviate the burden borne by some of our guests and our missing guests -- in accessing our services. Because no one should feel like they cant get the help they need.
2. Improve the health of our guests. We will continue to source the most nutritious food so our guests can thrive. And we will make sure that our partners have the resources and support they need to boost guests health outcomes.
3. Support household financial stability. We will work to make effective referrals and build new partnerships to help our guests access resources like SNAP, housing assistance, and utility assistance so they dont have to choose between buying groceries and paying for other necessities.
4. Maintain a strong and sustainable organization

Central to the Food Bank’s success in distributing nutritious food to our community is a vast, effective network of partner agencies and program sites. Our network is made up of a diverse collection of food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, community centers, senior centers, schools, and a growing number of health clinics. One thing they all have in common is that they are local and within reach of people in need, and they serve as the “last mile” in a journey of charitable food assistance.

The food we distribute originates on a farm, from a grocery store or food manufacturer, we buy it, or it comes through a centralized system such as the federal government that provides supplemental food to millions of people throughout the nation. The Food Bank aggregates food from all these sources and distributes it to our partners and directly to guests through a variety of programs we operate.

We can achieve our mission in large part thanks to the passionate support of people, businesses, and organizations who agree that everyone should have enough to eat. Donations take the form of community food drives, volunteer hours, grassroots advocacy, and, importantly, financial support.

Finally, we extend our reach through important state and national partnerships with the Virginia Federation of Food Banks, and the national organization Feeding America.

At the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, we are driven by our core beliefs that hunger is unacceptable; that everyone deserves access to enough food; that food sustains life and nourishes health; and that we are called to serve neighbors without judgment.

When founded in 1981, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank was considered a major experiment in rural food banking. Today, we are the largest hunger relief organization in central and western Virginia, distributing food throughout 25 counties and 8 cities from four distribution centers located in Charlottesville, Winchester, Lynchburg, and Verona (our headquarters).

Our new strategic plan includes a disparities-based needs assessment to help us engage neighbors in developing a service-area wide plan for equity in food access. We are still a work in progress but the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank strives to ensure more inclusive and equitable access to food assistance. We do this by understanding and building awareness of the root causes of poverty, identifying and mitigating systemic inequities, actively including diverse voices and perspectives in solution-finding, and by fostering a caring, respectful culture in our organization and in our communities.

As such, the Food Bank
integrates the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into our vision, mission and strategies rather than treating DEI as a separate initiative
takes a data-driven and evidence-based approach to identifying disparities in food access among marginalized communities, especially in communities of color, and developing effective solutions
focuses on creating change within our organization and across our network of community partners
strives to include as many people as possible in working toward our mission.

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