History

The Vermont Foodbank opened in 1986 after the Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC) began focusing on the 350% increase in demand for emergency food they were seeing in the early 80s.  CVCAC members soon found that a similar need existed across the entire state and after conducting research with other statewide hunger organizations proposed the development of the Vermont Foodbank.

In 1985, then-Governor Madeleine Kunin announced the Governor’s Task Force on Poverty and Hunger.  The following year the Vermont Foodbank was born in an 1,800 square foot warehouse in Barre, distributing food throughout the state to food shelves, pantries and other community meal sites.

Today the Vermont Foodbank, Vermont’s largest hunger relief organization, serves 280 food shelves, meal sites, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs that assist more than 66,000 Vermonters each year.  Last year, the Vermont Foodbank distributed nearly 7.5 million pounds of food to its Network Partners around the state from three distribution centers in Barre, Wolcott and Brattleboro.  The organization is a member of Feeding America (formeraly America's Second Harvest)–the country’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization.  
 
The Foodbank observed its 20th year of continuous operation in 2006.  As part of that observance, Governor Douglas reconvened a Governor’s Task Force on Hunger to help gauge and direct future work. To the 2008 Hunger Task Force report, click here.