Food banks are a critical part of America’s food safety net

The scale is substantial:

• About 1 in 7 U.S. households—18.3 million—experienced food insecurity in 2024. That means they lacked reliable access to enough food because of insufficient money or resources.

• More than 50 million people received charitable food assistance during 2023, according to Feeding America’s estimate covering organizations both inside and outside its network.

• Feeding America reports that its network distributed 5.9 billion meals in its latest reported year. That represents only part of the broader charitable food system.

Their importance goes beyond the food itself:

Why it matters:

Immediate household relief

Groceries help families manage a job loss, reduced hours, or an unexpected expense while preserving money for rent, utilities, and transportation.

Reliable support for seniors

Programs such as CSFP provide recurring food assistance, nutrition education, and connections to other benefits.

Food distribution infrastructure

Food banks provide the warehouses, refrigeration, transportation, staff, and volunteers needed to move food into communities.

Food rescue

They turn usable surplus from retailers, manufacturers, and farms into groceries for people who need them.

Local access to assistance:

Community locations can help people obtain food and learn about other available services.

The CSFP regulations illustrate this clearly: participating agencies handle eligibility, food distribution, nutrition education, referrals, and accountability. Those are substantial public-service responsibilities. Food rescue is also a major supply source: Feeding America’s recent reporting identifies retail, manufacturing, and produce donations among its principal food streams.

Food banks cannot solve food insecurity alone. They can relieve an immediate shortage, but lasting food security also depends on household income, housing costs, healthcare costs, and public benefits.

Foodbank.city provides software for essential community infrastructure. Reducing administrative work, preventing food losses, and helping staff reach people who miss distributions can directly improve how much assistance a food bank delivers—and how reliably it delivers it.