Blaine County Hunger Coalition, Inc.
Building community through food
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There are some grim realities underneath the glitz of our resort community. The high cost of living – with food costs ranked as the 6th highest in the nation – compounded by the seasonality of employment, makes it extremely difficult for working people to scrape by. The housekeeper can't afford lunch. The preschool teacher commutes from Twin Falls. The front desk staff is on food stamps. The Hunger Coalition -aka Bloom Community Food Center- is a hunger relief organization in Blaine County that makes sure these people have access to good food year round. We feed 28% of Blaine County or 5,869 local people per year but a food assessment survey indicated that 51% of our population is food insecure or one crisis away from it. We're working to move beyond the band-aid approach of emergency food assistance and instead have begun designing new solutions that buck the stigma of food assistance and address the root causes of hunger to create lasting solutions.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Healthy Food Pantry
Good food is paramount to strength and well-being. If you’re facing obstacles like a family or medical crisis, unemployment, or the high cost of living in Blaine County, don’t hesitate to fill up on fresh, nutritious staples from our food pantry at no cost to you. The pantry is arranged like a grocery center where you can fill up a cart with healthy food such as milk, eggs, frozen meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, and canned goods. Much of our food comes from our Food Rescue program, where we recover fresh produce and perishable items from our local grocery stores.
Infant Formula Initiative
If you are a parent looking for compassionate support for your infant, please ask us about our Infant Formula Initiative. Implemented in 2005, The Hunger Coalition’s Infant Formula Initiative ensures babies requiring supplemental nutrition can receive formula every month during their first year. As a supplement to the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), the Infant Formula Initiative provides essential nutrition during the critical first months of an infant’s life. To date, the program has distributed 24,990 bottles of infant formula to local babies!
The Papoose Club and St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center have been vital partners in this program over the years and we are truly grateful for their support.
Bloom Community Farm and The Hope Garden
Bloom Community Farm and The Hope Garden connect our community over the shared joy of growing good food. Through education and agriculture, these feel-good growing spaces help inspire a resilient future for all members of Blaine County.
Daily Bites
We believe it is essential for children of all ages to have easy access to healthy food in order to learn, grow, and participate in their community with confidence. Daily Bites provides healthy kid friendly snack pantries in easily accessible locations for all children throughout Blaine County.
Bloom Truck
The Hunger Coalition and The Community Library collaborate to bring a food truck and bookmobile to isolated neighborhoods throughout Blaine County. In order to prevent the summer slide in nutrition and learning, over 18 partners bring enrichment activities designed to keep bodies and minds healthy and active and prepared to re-enter school in the fall.
Community Kitchen & Cafe
Bloom Kitchen and Cafe is the platform for our Cooking Club, cooking and nutrition classes, and weekly community meals. Our neighbors gather twice a week for a home-cooked, nutritious and free meals in our cafe. It's an opportunity for folks to enjoy good food, good conversation, and community.
Where we work
Awards
Idaho's Brightest Star 2016
Idaho Governor's Office
Ann & Doug Christensen Humanitarian Award 2009
Humanitarian Award
Idaho Walmart Associate Choice Award 2011
Walmart
Summer Sunshine Award 2017
USDA Summer Feeding Program
Best Nonprofit 2020
Idaho Mountain Express -Best of the Valley Award
Best Nonprofit 2021
Idaho Mountain Express -Best of the Valley Award
Best Nonprofit 2022
Idaho Mountain Express- Best of the Valley Award
Humanitarian of the Year 2023
Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Children and youth, Seniors, Immigrants and migrants, At-risk youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Unemployed people, People with disabilities
Related Program
Healthy Food Pantry
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Pounds of food distributed last year
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, Families, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of meals served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Families, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This statistic utilizes the USDA standard of 1.3 pounds of food per meal.
Number of children receiving food assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people, At-risk youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of pounds of food rescued through grocery store rescue, food drives, garden and farm donations and gleaning efforts.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
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?
With the rapidly evolving needs of our community post-COVID, our staff and board developed the following goals for the 2023-2025 work period. They address the two parts of our mission a) provide food access b) address the root causes of hunger:
Goal 1: Program Evolution & Excellence- By Dec 31, 2025, THC root cause programs will complete intensive piloting, including a minimum of 30 stakeholder engagements, to advance long-term community impact
Goal 2: Crisis Planning- By Dec 31, 2025, THC will have one internal master plan for strategic crisis responses in areas of program, finance, operations
Goal 3: Collective Impact- By Dec 31, 2025, THC will invest in pilot community collective impacts with at least 3 community organizations to better address root cause work
Goal 4: Leadership Development- By Dec 31, 2025, THC will mentor 5 people from underrepresented demographics in leadership skills to build equitable representation in Blaine County
Goal 5: Staff Housing- By Dec 31, 2024, THC will explore THC staff housing stability options
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Expand programming in the community kitchen and gardens to increase mental health opportunities
2. Support youth through a network of community partners focused on educational development and equity in schools
3. Restructure case management to provide unique, accessible mental health support in our cafe and green spaces
4. Survey our community on their understanding of root cause issues and develop greater awareness and engagement based on response
5. Capture lessons learned from major crises responses since 2020
6. Build a succession plan for future generations
7. Build crisis response plan considering internal and external threats like finances, communications, legal, and staffing
8. Financially support sister organizations that address the root causes of food insecurity like education, childcare, and housing and thus, prevent people from needing food assistance in the first place
9. Build a leadership track for rising leaders within our organization that can be shared with partner organizations
10. Promote civic engagement with community leaders who are interested in running for office or joining boards
11. Offer mentorship to younger nonprofits to strengthen the social service ecosystem
12. Increase staff housing stability while working alongside other community housing efforts to mitigate the impact of staff turnover
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Hunger Coalition has grown from an all-volunteer organization supporting the efforts of other social service agencies, to a full-fledged community food center and critical community assistance organization with twelve inter-related programs and twenty dedicated staff members focused on ending hunger in our community. Since our founding in 2003, we have created a highly effective, innovative, holistic and community-based approach to the provision of food assistance. For community members struggling to make ends meet, The Hunger Coalition is often the only available and accessible resource keeping them from malnutrition and hunger.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The Hunger Coalition has experienced more growth and success in the past three years than in the history of the organization. Even with COVID behind us, our numbers are higher than ever. We know that we must move beyond emergency food assistance if we are ever going to make a dent in food insecurity in our community.
A major shift in our strategy began in 2015 when we undertook a massive Community Food Assessment that, among other things, determined that affordability is the biggest factor preventing people from accessing more healthy food (versus availability and accessibility). In fact, we have the 6th highest food costs in the nation.
In addition, COVID proved what happens when nearly half of our community experiences the same crisis at once. Overnight, our numbers nearly quadrupled, but our staff and board were able to adapt our service model to keep pace with the need. Seeing so many people experience food insecurity at once, and seeing the need remain even in 2022, has further fueled our desire to tackle root cause work. Our full attention has moved towards addressing the second part of our mission - promoting solutions to the underlying causes of hunger in collaboration with key partners.
Luckily, in 2019 we started a capital campaign to renovate Bloom Community Food Center- a holistic and multifaceted solution to hunger. The13,000 sq ft facility includes a nex-gen food pantry, community kitchen and cafe, year round greenhouses, and more. The facility, in addition to our community farm and garden, children's food truck, and youth internship program will fuel our ambitious goals for the future.
Our new Strategic Work Plan will provide clear direction for the immediate future while setting a solid foundation for the future growth of the organization. We track specific, measurable goals on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis to gauge our progress.
This is a pivotal time for The Hunger Coalition. Our success can be measured in the most talented, passionate, and diverse team we've ever had in place, our continued generous donors, strong volunteer core, and healthy balance sheet that has allowed us to invest in future generations and to dream big. Never in the history of the organization have we been more prepared to undertake a strategic plan of this scope. We're ready to feed the future.
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 aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, 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 share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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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, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, 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
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.
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.
Blaine County Hunger Coalition, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 03/18/2024
Mrs. Patti Zebrowski
N/A
Term: 2024 - 2024
Patti Zebrowski
Board Chair
Carter Cox
Vice Chair
Mariela Orihuela
Member
Luis Campos
Member
Deborah Van Law
Secretary
Erika Greenberg
Member
Randy Hall
Member
Kody Laggis
Treasurer
Ross Copperman
Member
Vicki Overfelt
Member
Fernanda Hausske
Member
Sarah Uhlenhopp
Member
John Hatzenbuehler
Member
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? Yes
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:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/03/2022GuideStar 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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- 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 have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- 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.