WHO IS HUNGRY
River Bend Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in eastern Iowa and western Illinois, distributing over 20 MILLION meals every year to people struggling with hunger. Our mission is leading the community-wide effort to end hunger in Iowa and Illinois. We do this through food distribution in partnership with our network of more than 300 hunger-relief agency partners and programs.
In our 23-county service area:
- 159,848 people are food insecure—they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
- 19,535,900 meals are being missed, not by choice.
- 1 in 6 adults are missing meals, not by choice.
- 1 in 4 children (55,575) are missing meals, not by choice.
- 63% of these people are choosing between medical care and food.
- 62% of these people are choosing between housing and food.
- 81% of these people choose the cheapest food available regardless of its nutritional value.
- 40% of these people water down their food to stretch their food supply.
