With enhanced operations spanning 7 counties, “new” Greater Lansing Food Bank explains opportunities and unveils new logo

.pdf of press release

LANSING, Mich. — The Greater Lansing Food Bank (GLFB) today unveiled its new logo as part of a reintroduction to the community following its consolidation with the Mid-Michigan Food Bank. The unification, which became effective July 1, was a year in the making and resulted in creating the area’s largest emergency food assistance organization, with services that also encompass sustainability initiatives such as a community garden program (Garden Project) and food rescue program (Food Movers).

The new consolidated food bank remains the Greater Lansing Food Bank in name, and features a new logo and an expanded mission focused on more efficiently and compassionately feeding those in need in the seven counties of Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Clare and Isabella, with an ultimate goal of reducing food costs while increasing the supply.

“For more than 30 years, the Greater Lansing Food Bank has focused its resources and efforts on meeting the emergency food needs of our community — and that mission has not changed,” said Greater Lansing Food Bank Executive Director Joe Wald. “What this merger will allow our organization to do is widen our reach of support services from three counties to seven and take advantage of greater efficiencies for our communities based on more efficient purchasing opportunities of food. In addition, this should eliminate the confusion about the food banks serving our community. There is now one.”

“This expansion could not have come at a more opportune time, given that the needs in our area remain at near record levels,” Wald said. “When we began discussions a year ago with the American Red Cross, Mid-Michigan Chapter (owner of the Mid-Michigan Food Bank), we knew we were standing at a crossroad of opportunity. This is new chance for the expanded Greater Lansing Food Bank to work with our partners of the past, and to develop new and innovative relationships moving forward – all with the focus of helping more of our individuals and families in need in a more efficient manner.”

With the new expanded organization, the Greater Lansing Food Bank has replaced its decades-old green-and-red logo of a map of Michigan on a wireframe of a globe. GLFB’s new green and blue logo features leaves branching out from a dinner fork. Taken together, the leaves can be seen as a tree or a spread on a dinner plate. The new logo and the font chosen are meant to suggest the strength and stability of the Greater Lansing Food Bank, which began as a community project more than 30 years ago, advanced by a small group of dedicated citizens that has grown to become what it is today.

Wald said the summer will be a time of transition and learning for everyone involved with the food bank, including employees, those who receive food aid, area pantry and agency partners, donors, and other stakeholders.

Over the past year, the Greater Lansing Food Bank and the Mid-Michigan Food Bank together served more than 60,000 people in need in the tri county area, with many more in the outlying 4 counties. With the continuing high unemployment and precarious funding from a number of government programs, the need to feed people continues at near record levels.

In addition to serving tens of thousands of people annually, the expanded Greater Lansing Food Bank will continue to offer the same community-building programs it has long supported:

Garden Project — The Garden Project that began in 1983 supports 95 community gardens and assists low-income residents with their backyard gardens.
Gleaning Program — The Garden Project also manages the Gleaning Program, in which edible produce from area farms is harvested and distributed through a network of agencies.
Food Movers — The Food Movers program rescues perishable food from restaurants, commercial kitchens, bakeries, and grocery stores and delivers this food to our network of pantries and agencies and subsidized housing complexes.

Food will continue to be distributed through an extensive network of food pantries and community kitchens located throughout the seven-county area. Because of the many cooperative programs between the Greater Lansing Food Bank and the Mid-Michigan Food Bank, pantries and agencies accessing food should experience no interruption in supply or process. Similarly, those who access the pantry and agency networks for food should continue to receive ample supplies of nutritious food. At the request of our community partners, one program that the new Greater Lansing Food Bank will be reviewing is the potential to revive past partnerships to reintroduce the popular “backpack program” to feed school age children who might otherwise go without meals. This program was cancelled by the Mid-Michigan Food Bank due to cost issues.

A number of additional services will continue to be provided and these will be communicated to the community.

For more information, visit the Greater Lansing’s Food Bank website at http://www.greaterlansingfoodbank.org/ and like the organization on Faceboook by going to https://www.facebook.com/GreaterLansingFoodBank. Follow the food bank on Twitter: https://twitter.com/glfoodbank.

Those interested in volunteering, making a donation or learning more about the Greater Lansing Food Bank can call 517.853.7800.

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