Fleet Focus: Driving Miles and Creating Smiles
You have probably seen the fleet of Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank trucks on the roads with the giant red bread slice and images of happy children and families. The trucks represent the hope for a brighter future and the joyous appreciation so many food-insecure families have for the meals they receive through your support of the Food Bank.
Our fleet of trucks and dedicated drivers cover thousands of miles a month across 11 parishes delivering food to our member agencies and meal site distributions. They also perform scheduled pick-ups of food donations from grocery retailers, large food drives, and various food suppliers.
What many people may not realize is how critical our fleet is to being able to serve families in need. Just like people count on UPS and FedEx to deliver their packages daily, many families and food insecure seniors rely on us to sort, pack, and deliver meals to food distribution sites so that they can access enough food to make it through the week. Below are a few key numbers of note when it comes to the impact our fleet has on our ability to serve others.
10 Fleet Vehicles
Our fleet consists of 6 straight reefer trucks, 2 tractor trailers, 1 beverage truck and 1 smaller food van. The larger trucks are on the roads delivering and picking up food 5-6 days a week and work some Sundays when special distributions are scheduled in local communities.
124 Partner Agencies
Your Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank delivers food to the front lines of hunger through 124 partner agencies who have food pantries or ministries set up to provide meals to those in their local areas. We provide food to these partners at no cost to the member agencies. To find efficiencies in our operations, 26 of these agencies are designated as Meal Connect agencies, meaning we have partnerships in place where they can access food directly from our retailers. This allows us to save on transportation costs and turn those savings into sourcing more food for those in need.
325,000 Pounds Per Week
Our trucks distribute roughly 325,000 pounds of food per week be it through our agencies or scheduled on-site distributions. That can equate to over 270,000 meals per week or just over a million meals a month.
Interested in learning more about our fleet and operations? We would love to share more details with you in person. A warehouse facility tour is a great way to learn more about what we do and get involved. Contact us today to set up time for a visit.
Hunger Action Month Wrap-up
