USDA employees from Rural Development and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service assist at Harvesters, a local food bank.

USDA employees in Kansas from Rural Development and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently visited the Harvesters Distribution Center in Topeka in honor of National Service Day.  Harvesters is a food bank that partners with more than 600 nonprofit agencies to provide nutritious food to individuals in 26-counties in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. Read more »

Story and Photos by Phil Eggman, USDA Rural Development, Washington State Office

Donating a little bit of time can go a long way to making a big difference for people. Just ask the employees of USDA Rural Development in Washington State who, on July 13, donated two hours of their time at the end of a hectic day to make food packages for the elderly, young mothers, infants and children at the Thurston County Food Bank located in downtown Olympia. Read more »

  Darlene Barnes, Mountain Plains Regional Administrator, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service

It was going to be tough matching Wednesday’s visit to Colorado Springs, but if anyplace can compare, it’s breathtaking Salt Lake City.  But Utah is more than just a pretty face.  It’s one of seven new states this year that began operating the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).  Thanks to Utah and others’ commitment, CSFP participation now includes 39 states, two Indian Tribal Organizations, and the District of Columbia.
 
While there, I took the opportunity to tour the Bountiful Food Pantry, the first site in the Salt Lake area to begin distributing food packages.  CSFP food packages there are available to the elderly as well as to women, infants, and children.  A little later I was joined by staff from the Food and Nutrition Service’s Mountain Plains Regional Office, where we took part in a celebration for CSFP at the Utah Food Bank.  I also had a chance to see their recently renovated food bank, and its a gorgeous facility!  A number of community partners came out to support the program, helping us get the word out about CSFP.  I’m confident we’ll be successful in spreading that important message to those most in need – in large part to the efforts of Utah’s food community.

Janey Thornton, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, (in center) and Darlene Barnes, Administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Mountain Plains Region (second from left) traveled to Utah May 13 to help promote the launch of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program in the State.