Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance

The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is the statewide organization for policy work on hunger issues and coordinates efforts around the state to help feed those in need.

The alliance, working with its six founding member food banks, provides food to more than 710,000 people in Arkansas annually.

The nonprofit helps sponsor the Arkansas Gleaning Project, which has provided more than 4 million pounds of gleaned produce to food banks, pantries and other agencies across the state. It also recently launched two nutrition programs, Cooking Matters and Cooking Matters at the Store, which not only educate people on healthier cooking, but also on how to shop better.

In 2015, the alliance worked with the governor and the Arkansas Board of Education to endorse school breakfast programs and summer meal programs in high-need districts.

“Both of those are acknowledging all the hunger issues that we are talking about,” said Kathy Webb, executive director of the alliance. The two initiatives were included by ForwARd Arkansas in a series of recommendations to improve education in the state that were endorsed by the state Board of Education in 2015.

The alliance has 20 employees and hundreds of volunteers and works with more than 500 member food banks, pantries, schools, churches, other nonprofits and individuals across the state.

Arkansas ranks first in senior hunger, and about 20 percent of the state’s residents do not know where their next meal will come from at some point during the year, Webb said.