Arkansas Foodbank Network

The Arkansas Foodbank Network distributes about 6 million pounds of food annually and reaches more than 70,000 Arkansans each month through a network of more than 400 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in 41 counties.

Its leader, Phyllis Haynes, is also nominated this year for Nonprofit Executive of the Year, and says the nonprofit’s success reflects its openness to collaboration.

“The Arkansas Foodbank Network works hard to establish strategic and effective partnerships with other nonprofits and organizations to increase efficiency and impact in products and services for Arkansans in need,” she said. “The more we can network and educate, the more we can make an impact.”

A membership in America’s Second Harvest, a national food bank network and the largest domestic hunger relief group, is a prime example.

“This partnership enables us to import from out of state almost half of the food we distribute to Arkansans,” said Haynes, who also touts partnerships with CareLink, various Boys & Girls Clubs, the United Way, churches, schools and universities.

Haynes points to last year’s successful partnership with KTHV-TV, Channel 11, for a cereal drive as another powerful example of community collaboration. The drive raised more than 145,000 boxes of cereal and $29,000 in donations, more than doubling its 2005 totals.

What began in 1984 simply as a bank to secure food donations to later be distributed through other programs has grown into a statewide network with a budget of more than $2.2 million and more than 100 volunteers and 25 employees.

The Arkansas Foodbank Network is the founding member of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, an association of food banks that developed from an $870,000 grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and a $389,000 grant from the state Attorney General to set up a more efficient network of distributing food to hungry Arkansans.