Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
Feed. Teach. Grow. Cultivate.
Learn how to support this organization
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our mission is to feed our neighbors, teach self-sufficiency, grow healthy foods, and cultivate innovative approaches to end hunger. Founded in 1989 and a Feeding America network member since 2001, we collaborate with over 200 dedicated partners across seven counties to end hunger in central North Carolina. Hunger is perpetuated by ingrained barriers to basic needs which are held in place by race, class, and gender privilege. These root causes place hunger at an intersection with lack of other critical resources: healthcare, affordable housing, education, employment at a living wage, mental health services, transportation. We recognize that the root causes of hunger are often the result of systemic oppression. Our commitment is firm: we will learn the barriers to food access from those impacted by them, collaborate strategically to address them, cultivate a just and inclusive work culture, and advocate for policy to build a sustainable food system in our community.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Food Recovery & Distribution
Recovery of donated food coupled with prompt delivery to approved agencies (shelters, pantries, soup kitchens & more) across 7 counties, providing healthy food for their clients. Direct distribution to communities in Wake, Durham, Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, Chatham, and Orange Counties through a monthly schedule of Mobile Markets.
Culinary Apprenticeship Program
Twelve-week instruction in commercial culinary skills for un- and under-employed individuals, many of whom are facing severe life adversities.
BackPack Buddies
Weekend food provision for schoolchildren across 7 counties of service participating in the federal school lunch program. Distribution and participant selection through school principals and guidance counselors.
Nutrition Education
Classes, multi-week sessions and one-time workshop events empowering adults, teens, children and seniors with basic nutrition and cooking skills using hands-on activities. Current curriculum: Cooking Matters, Seniors Eating Well, Food Smarts and tailored curriculum developed in-house. Sessions and materials are available in English and Spanish.
Farm & Community Learning Gardens
Promoting and providing instruction in sustainable agriculture and "garden to fork" practices. Distribution of approximately 40,000 pounds of fresh, local produce per year across a 7-county service area, utilizing our 14-acre production farm and two learning garden sites.
Spinning Plate Food Truck
Distributing fresh, hot, nutritious meals directly in areas of greatest need across seven counties utilizing a state-of-the-art mobile kitchen. "The Spinning Plate" is designed with engaging retail-quality branding to dismantle the stigma associated with hunger, and equipped for front line use in disaster relief with emergency lights, a generator, speakers and display screens
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Food Recovery & Distribution
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of healthy meals supplied to the community
Total pounds of food rescued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Food Recovery & Distribution
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total pounds of food recovered and prevented from going to landfill
Pounds of produce grown
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Farm & Community Learning Gardens
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Pounds of fresh local produce harvested from the Food Shuttle Farm
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of hours contributed by volunteers supporting our mission (numbers severely impacted by COVID safety concerns)
Number of participants attending course/session/workshop
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of participants (both adult and youth) in Nutrition Education and Agriculture Education (services impacted by COVID closings)
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We serve children, adults, families, and seniors most at risk for chronic food insecurity in seven counties of central North Carolina: Wake, Durham, Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, Chatham, and Orange. According to Feeding America, there are 207,990 food-insecure neighbors across our service area (Map the Meal Gap, July 2022). And yet, our agency partners recorded over 1.1 million visitors served through our food access programs between July 2021 and June 2022. This reflects the fact that many neighbors need to return multiple times to our distributions, which indicates we are reaching the neighbors who need us most. These families make impossible choices every day between food for their family and housing, utilities, and other basic needs. As support mechanisms such as the child tax credit, the eviction moratorium and now emergency SNAP benefits are rolled back, like all food banks we are seeing a new wave of need building across our communities.
We ensure our hunger relief and education initiatives reach underserved neighbors in two ways: 1) working with partners who screen for income data, and 2) researching community data from a variety of reliable sources. As a Feeding America network member, we have access to their considerable resources on food insecurity and racial disparity data. We also maintain our own Community Needs Assessments specific to each of our 7 counties. Rooted in the social determinants of health (SODH), they inform us about the intersecting barriers faced by those we serve (housing, education, healthcare, and more), helping us pinpoint where we are needed most. We also maintain an Interactive map showing where our services are located, along with key SODH data points. These resources are available to the community on our website, located via this link: https://www.foodshuttle.org/hunger-101.
According to the NC Budget and Tax Center, rent is unaffordable for 48% of renters in Durham County, and 43% of those in Edgecombe County (June 2022). Gentrification significantly impacts lower-income BIPOC communities by increasing the cost of housing throughout the region. Neighborhoods in East Durham, southeast Durham County, South Raleigh, northeast Wake County, Rocky Mount, Tarboro, Selma, and Siler City all have a greater concentration of BIPOC households. Our Interactive Map provides data that shows these neighborhoods also have higher rates of barriers to food security, especially for children. For example, in Tarboro, NC where we serve WA Patillo Middle School, the poverty rate is 27% and 83% of children live with a single parent. It is in these neighborhoods where our mobile markets, school pantries, and other food distribution agencies are most concentrated. It is also why we are gradually expanding our education initiatives beyond the under-resourced communities of Wake and Durham County into our rural outlying counties.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The hard truth is that putting more food on the table and more cans into the pantry of families do not address the root causes of hunger. Our services operate within a socioeconomic structure that works against equitable solutions to food insecurity. The first step in this regard is to ask, “WHY are people hungry?” and be prepared to listen. We must meaningfully and authentically engage Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), and Immigrants in finding solutions to addressing the specific systemic barriers their communities face with the guidance of their voice and leadership. Our 5-Year Strategic Plan will guide our efforts to address these barriers to food security using these overarching strategies:
1. Identify, developed, strengthen and invest in programs having a measurable impact.
2. Build a collaborative and empowering culture where all constituents play a strategic, mission-driven role.
3. Lead in advocating for social justice solutions connected to hunger and food insecurity.
4. Educate the community on the factors contributing to hunger and the Food Shuttle's role in addressing those needs.
5. Steward existing and cultivate new funding and other resources.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
A non-traditional food bank from its earliest days, Food Shuttle core programs developed strategically out of a habit of listening to the food-insecure neighbors we served. As indicated by our program descriptions above, we employ multiple strategies to meet people at their point of need. Today, our “Feed-Teach-Grow” approach stands on a 30-year foundation of Food Access, Nutrition Education and Job Training, and Sustainable Agriculture.
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is in a prime position to begin this work. With over 32 years in the community and hundreds of established partnerships, we are ready to pivot and refocus our work as needed with courage and tenacity. Our operational capacity is well-suited for the task. With our breadth of programs spanning from emergency food offerings, to cooking classes, a 14-acre farm, food truck, and agricultural and community health education, we have the creative freedom and logistical adaptability to step into the spaces where we are most needed.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
As we enter year three of our 5 Year Strategic Plan, we are energized by what we have learned and accomplished thus far. We continue to increase collaboration with our colleagues at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, mutually leveraging our unique position as the only two Feeding America member food banks who share a completely overlapping service area. This unique relationship allows us to work in tandem, maximizing benefit to the communities we serve. Rich learnings during Year 2 led to cultivation of new relationships with local under-resourced farmers, who sell us fresh produce from their fields then deliver it to nearby agency partners for distribution right in their own local community. We have grown these food system-focused partnerships from 3 in fall 2022 to 16 farmers in spring 2023. We have hired ground-level program staff with lived experience in our communities. We continue to deepen our listening and measurement practices, seeking new entry points to incorporate the voices of the neighbors we serve. In all we do, we seek the triple bottom line of social, environmental, and economic impact.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
Board of directorsas of 03/12/2024
Mr Kurt Huesner
Citrix Americas
Term: 2026 - 2022
Matt Robinson
Pinnacle Financial Partners
William Cannon
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Jon Showalter
Homes By Dickerson
Ken Smith
WRAL
Kurt Heusner
Citrix
Jeff Freer
Accreditation Commission For Health Care
Michelle Pavliv
Nonprofit Consultant
Cristina Hernandez
Lennar Homes
Kate Paradise
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Deonte’ Thomas
Wake County
Polly Petrino
Chiesi USA
Jessica Rutti
Wards Produce
Matt Gregory
The Clorox Company
Allison Itin
Red Hat
LaQuana Palmer
NCDHHS - NC Medicaid
Gayle Headen
Wake County Smart Start
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/18/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.