Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF FEEDING AMERICA 2 AN ANALYSIS OF FEEDING AMERICA 2 The Analysis of Feeding America Analysis of Feeding America Feeding America is a nonprofit organization based in the United States. The organization operates food banks all over the U.S that feed millions of people through shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens. Feeding America is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the U.S and has the unique mission of alleviating hunger especially amongst the impoverished citizens (Handforth, Hennink, & Schwartz, 2013). Students can enable the organization to achieve its mission through donations and engage in research to examine the issue of hunger in America. To that extent, the following paper will discuss the organization's vision, challenges and suggest the improvements that it can make to realize its mission successfully. The Vision Feeding America has a multifaceted vision aimed towards feeding hungry Americans through a web of community-based organizations. Also, the organization's vision is aimed at engaging communities in the endeavor to end hunger across the U.S. The first tenet of the organization’s vision is passion. Feeding America is driven by the compassion and enthusiasm to help the people in need to enable them to realize their full potential. The second tenet of the organization's vision is to inspire hope in the communities that it serves by using a positive attitude. Indeed, the organization aims to have a meaningful impact in the community every day. The third tenet is stewardship. Feeding America aims to be a pillar of the community in order to gain the trust of donors to serve people better. For the firm to achieve the latter, the organization aspires to involve donors in financial decision making to create an environment of accountability. By following these tenets, Feeding America will achieve sustainability and enable it to create a better future for impoverished Americans. Challenges The most significant challenge that Feeding America faces is related to financing. Currently, the organization lacks enough funds to solve the perpetual issue of hunger in the U.S. As a nationwide organization, and Feeding America needs a significant amount of resources like personnel and vehicles to enable it to achieve its mission effectively. However, the organization lacks enough sponsors meaning that it has to compromise part of its mission. The situation is made worse by the current macroeconomic climate in the U.S. Due to unfavorable economic conditions (rising food prices, unemployment, and the housing crisis), the demand for emergency feeding services is at an all-time high; this places a strain on the already overstretched budget of Feeding America. The second challenge of the organization is interrelated to the first as the organization lacks enough personnel. Feeding America is chronically understaffed, and there are not many people who are willing to offer voluntary services. T ...

1. Running head: AN ANALYSIS OF FEEDING AMERICA 2
AN ANALYSIS OF FEEDING AMERICA 2
The Analysis of Feeding America
Analysis of Feeding America
Feeding America is a nonprofit organization based in the United
States. The organization operates food banks all over the U.S
that feed millions of people through shelters, food pantries, and
soup kitchens. Feeding America is one of the largest nonprofit
organizations in the U.S and has the unique mission of
alleviating hunger especially amongst the impoverished citizens
(Handforth, Hennink, & Schwartz, 2013). Students can enable
the organization to achieve its mission through donations and
engage in research to examine the issue of hunger in America.
To that extent, the following paper will discuss the
organization's vision, challenges and suggest the improvements
that it can make to realize its mission successfully.
The Vision
Feeding America has a multifaceted vision aimed towards
feeding hungry Americans through a web of community-based
organizations. Also, the organization's vision is aimed at
engaging communities in the endeavor to end hunger across the

2. U.S. The first tenet of the organization’s vision is passion.
Feeding America is driven by the compassion and enthusiasm to
help the people in need to enable them to realize their full
potential. The second tenet of the organization's vision is to
inspire hope in the communities that it serves by using a
positive attitude. Indeed, the organization aims to have a
meaningful impact in the community every day. The third tenet
is stewardship. Feeding America aims to be a pillar of the
community in order to gain the trust of donors to serve people
better. For the firm to achieve the latter, the organization
aspires to involve donors in financial decision making to create
an environment of accountability. By following these tenets,
Feeding America will achieve sustainability and enable it to
create a better future for impoverished Americans.
Challenges
The most significant challenge that Feeding America faces is
related to financing. Currently, the organization lacks enough
funds to solve the perpetual issue of hunger in the U.S. As a
nationwide organization, and Feeding America needs a
significant amount of resources like personnel and vehicles to
enable it to achieve its mission effectively. However, the
organization lacks enough sponsors meaning that it has to
compromise part of its mission. The situation is made worse by
the current macroeconomic climate in the U.S. Due to
unfavorable economic conditions (rising food prices,
unemployment, and the housing crisis), the demand for
emergency feeding services is at an all-time high; this places a
strain on the already overstretched budget of Feeding America.
The second challenge of the organization is interrelated to the
first as the organization lacks enough personnel. Feeding
America is chronically understaffed, and there are not many
people who are willing to offer voluntary services. The
combination of these problems poses a significant challenge to
Feeding America's mission.
Improvements

3. After analyzing the challenges that Feeding America faces, it is
clear that the organization needs to enhance its sources of
revenue. In order to achieve this, the organization can engage in
profitable ventures (Cook & Jeng, 2009). On that account,
Feeding America can open restaurant-chain as this enterprise is
directly related to its mission. The profits from the restaurant
can be used to finance its operations.
Conclusion
Feeding America is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in
the U.S and operates with the primary mission of alleviating
hunger in the country. The most significant challenge that the
organization faces is lack of sufficient funds. To solve this
challenge, Feeding America can engage in an enterprise like a
restaurant-chain. Overall, students all over the country can
volunteer their services to the organization to enable it to
achieve its vision.
References
Cook, J.T., & Jeng, K. (2009). Child food security: The
economic impact on our nation. Report research on the impact
of food insecurity and hunger on child, health, growth, and
development. Feeding America.
Handforth, B., Hennink, M., & Schwartz, M. B. (2013). "A
qualitative study of nutrition-based initiatives at selected food
banks in the Feeding America network" Journal of the Academy
of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(3), 411-415.

4. Running head: FEEDING AMERICA 1
FEEDING AMERICA 4
Feeding America
Feeding America
Feeding America is a non-profit organization that maintains a
network of more than 200 food banks across the country. As the
third largest charity in the country and the most significant
domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America serves to
educate the general public and provides updated information
about hunger in America. The organizational mission is
purposely meant to "Feed America's hungry through a
nationwide network of member food banks and engage the
country in the fight to end hunger” (Handforth, Hennink, &
Schwartz, 2013). It serves more than 46 million people through
shelters, food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community-
based organizations. Additionally, the national office creates
educational and research papers that cover various dimensions
of hunger in addition to providing information about poverty,
hunger, and the existing programs serving these vulnerable

5. populations.
Currently, more than 41 million people face hunger in the
U.S. with the number including at least 5 million seniors and 13
million children. Food insecurity is a pressing issue in all
counties in the country with more people relying on food banks
and pantries. The situation remains accelerated by the
prevalence of poverty around the country which makes many
families unable to afford the $2.94 per meal. Feeding America
estimates that there is a national “Meal Gap” of at least $16.28
per week for every person thereby creating a $24.2 billion
shortfall (America, 2016). From their initiatives, it is clear that
Feeding America engages in charity work when seeking to
reduce food insecurity across the country. However, they need
to change their approach to include solidarity work since the
prevalent food insecurity is rooted in more profound issues of
poverty and inequality. Statistics show that most families that
receive SNAP benefits use most of the funds within the first
week which creates food insecurity later in the month.
Therefore, Feeding America can seek feedback from their target
populations to determine the best strategy for disbursement of
funds. Furthermore, they should also seek to lobby legislators in
changing the existing cultural conditions to facilitate a rise out
of poverty.
Students engaging with the target population might fail to
understand how families that receive SNAP benefits still have
the highest rates of food insecurity. Since most university
students come from well-to-do backgrounds, understanding the
root causative factors may be challenging. They may also face
cultural challenges when working with minority populations
such as African Americans and Latinos which may introduce
challenges in engaging with them to get feedback on how to
improve and innovate current initiatives (Counihan & Van
Esterik, 2012). Students can overcome these issues through
extensive research on hunger and its causative factors before
their service learning tenure. The university can support them
through collaboration with experts in the field who can deliver

6. detailed presentations on how to work with the hungry
populations in America.
As a volunteer organization, there are minimal liabilities
incurred by having university students participate in service
learning at Feeding America. Most of the potential issues would
relate to working with vulnerable populations such as seniors
and children which may require specialized diets (Handforth et
al., 2013). Furthermore, a lack of cultural understanding may
create communication challenges when working with minority
groups such as blacks and Hispanics.
The potential cultural conflicts emerge through the food
production methods used for the donations. Some cultures prize
traditional farming methods and may be suspicious of modern
methods (Monin & Szczurek, 2014). This may create conflicts
with the organizational mission since food is sourced from
donations. Furthermore, there is a potential for
miscommunication when working with African Americans and
Latinos based on their culture and beliefs about food. The
university can support students participating in service learning
by providing resources on the cultural significance of food in
various cultures.
References
America, F. (2016). Map the meal gap 2016: Highlights of
findings for overall and child food insecurity. Map the Meal
Gap.
Counihan, C., & Van Esterik, P. (Eds.). (2012). Food and
culture: A reader. Routledge.
Handforth, B., Hennink, M., & Schwartz, M. B. (2013). A
qualitative study of nutrition-based initiatives at selected food
banks in the Feeding America network. Journal of the Academy
of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(3), 411-415.
Monin, B., & Szczurek, L. M. (2014). Food and culture. Culture
reexamined: Broadening our understanding of social and
evolutionary influences, 155-190.

7. Running head: FEEDING AMERICA 1
FEEDING AMERICA 4
Hunger In America
Hunger In America
Approximately 41 million people in America struggle with
hunger, a number slightly higher than the 40.6 million people
living in poverty. In this context, Feeding America is a non-
profit organization operating foodbanks around the country that
aim to fulfill the nutrition needs of these at risk populations.
Service learning immerses students in community service
related to course material and improves retention of classroom
material through providing opportunities for students to
participate in activities that integrate volunteer service with
class material. Service learning helps in fostering collaboration
between educational institutions in servicing a community need.
Moreover, it helps students to apply their skills in real-world
environments, improve problem-solving skills, learn to work as
part of a team, and developing an appreciation for the drivers
needs and challenge of organizations (Huda et al., 2018).
However, students may face challenges in completing their
service-learning components such as time constraints related to
commitments with school, home, and work which reduces the
time available to participate in service-learning projects.
Moreover, the community organization may assign the student
tasks that are not related to their service-learning experience

8. which changes the outcome of the project.
As the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization,
Feeding America has a nationwide network of member food
banks that help affected communities to fight against hunger.
The organization sources donations from the food and grocery
industries and has partners in several categories namely
Leadership, media, entertainment and disaster management. For
the 2016/2017 financial year, the leadership partners
contributed at least $1 million with more than 10 million
pounds of food and grocery products with the most prominent
partners including ALDI, Bank of America, C & S Wholesale
Grocers, and Costco. Media partners such as Dr. Phil, Disney
and TLC help in developing awareness about Feeding America’s
vision and encourage donations and volunteers. The
entertainment council mobilize public support for Feeding
America through marketing programs, media relations
programs, and public policy initiatives and includes prominent
personalities such as Ben Affleck, Laila Ali, and David
Arquette. The disaster relief partners allow the organization to
deliver emergency suppliers and food assistance to affected
areas with partners including Amazon, Allstate, American
Airlines, and Citadel (Orgut et al., 2016). The organization
should also establish more service learning partnerships with
educational institutions surrounding their food banks. Currently,
the learning opportunities are limited to a few locations which
limits their effectiveness.
Feeding America relies on a network of volunteers to run its
national network of foodbanks efficiently. These volunteers
help in sorting, packing, or stacking food which can make
significant differences for the communities they serve
(America, 2016). Furthermore, experienced members share their
skills and knowledge which is essential in organizational
continuity. They also rely on donations from charities and large
organizations to fund their operations. Service learning
personnel are involved in the organization’s day-to-day
activities although there is little differentiation between their

9. roles and that of interns. Service-learning opportunities are
essential in developing team collaboration skills since it
requires working with people from diverse backgrounds
Feeding America works to provide meals to millions of at risk
families around the country. Their operations depend on
volunteer labor and donations which provides a valuable
opportunity for service learning and community service.
Additionally, it allows students to develop additional real-world
skills.
References
America, F. (2016). Hunger and poverty facts and statistics.
Retrieved November, 3, 2016.
Huda, M., Jasmi, K. A., Alas, Y., Qodriah, S. L., Dacholfany,
M. I., & Jamsari, E. A. (2018). Empowering Civic
Responsibility: Insights From Service Learning. In Engaged
Scholarship and Civic Responsibility in Higher Education (pp.
144-165). IGI Global.
Orgut, I. S., Brock III, L. G., Davis, L. B., Ivy, J. S., Jiang, S.,
Morgan, S. D., ... & Middleton, E. (2016). Achieving equity,
effectiveness, and efficiency in food bank operations: Strategies
for feeding America with implications for global hunger relief.
In Advances in Managing Humanitarian Operations (pp. 229-
256). Springer, Cham.