Our Programs

Food 4 Kids Backpack Program provides a weekly backpack full of food to children at risk of going hungry over the weekend when federal free or reduced-price meals are unavailable. We currently pack 3,030 bags of food weekly and distribute them to 64 elementary schools in Tulsa County: Academy Central, Addams, Alcott, Anderson, Angus Valley, Arrow Springs, Barnard, Bell, Boevers, Briarglen, Bryant, Burroughs, Celia Clinton, Central Fine Arts, Cherokee, Chouteau, Columbus, Cooper, Disney, Early Childhood Education Center, Emerson, Eugene Field, Garfield, Greeley, Grove, Hawthorne, Houston, Jackson, Jenks East, Jones, Kendall-Whittier, Kerr, Key, KIPP, Lanier, Liberty, Lindbergh, MacArthur, Mark Twain, Marshall, Mayo, McAuliffe, McClure, McKinley, Mitchell, Newcomer International, Owen, Patrick Henry, Phillips, Pratt, Remington, Robertson, Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Roy Clark, Sand Springs 6th Grade Center, Sandburg, Sequoyah, Sperry, Springdale, Vandever, Whitman and William Penn

In addition, the program has expanded outside the Tulsa area. These programs are feeding over 1,700 children at 79 sites. These programs include the Agape Mission in Bartlesville; Ash Street Baptist Church in Muskogee; Boulevard Christian Church in Muskogee; Boys & Girls Club in Pryor; Bristow Presbyterian Church; Broken Arrow Neighbors; Care Food Pantry in Tahlequah; Central Church of Christ in Haskell, Church Central Assembly in Muskogee, Church of Christ in Muskogee; Community Care of Sapulpa; Courtyard Church in Skiatook, the First Baptist Churches in Antlers, Muskogee and Okmulgee; First Presbyterian Church in Broken Bow; First United Methodist Churches in McAlester, Muskogee and Sapulpa; Ketchum United Methodist Church; Leonard United Methodist Church; Oolagah United Methodist Church; Rayfield Baptist Church in Muskogee; Seventh Day Adventist Church in Muskogee; Shared Blessings in McAlester; St. James Presbyterian Church in Jenks, St. Paul United Methodist Church in Muskogee; United Church of Christ in Owasso; and Westside Freewill Baptist Church in Checotah.

• Food 4 Kids Flyer

For more information, contact Cathy Elliott.

Kids Cafe is a program of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and Feeding America. It provides free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of community locations where children typically congregate. In addition to providing meals, Kids Cafe programs also offer a safe place where children can get involved in educational, recreational and social activities. Currently, there are four Kids Cafe programs in our service area: Boys & Girls Club of Green Country in Pryor; Springdale Recreation Center and Kendall Whittier's Youth Mentoring Program in Tulsa and the Boys & Girls Club of Bartlesville. For more information, contact Cathy Elliott.

Value-Added Processing Program helps extend the shelf life of perishable food by processing it in the Food Bank's Culinary Center into a form that can be frozen. A recent example of Value-Added Processing is a truckload of donated tomatoes that was turned into pasta sauce, then frozen and later distributed to the Food Bank's Partner Programs. For more information, contact Jonathan Haring.

Prepared and Perishable Food Program distributes highly-valued food to the hungry, such as fresh meat, dairy products, produce and already-prepared meals that would otherwise be discarded. The food comes from retail grocers, restaurants, cafeterias, growers, farmers and backyard gardeners. For more information, contact Ken Bacon.

Purchased and Staple Food Program provides food to our Partner Programs that is not typically donated by food donors or through food drives, such as peanut butter, protein and cereal. During last fiscal year, we purchased more than one million pounds of food in large quantities at a price well below retail.

Fresh Produce Program allows us to distribute healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables to our Partner Programs. Last fiscal year we distributed more than a million pounds of produce, including produce received through our Plant a Row for the Hungry Program, a nationwide program started by the Garden Writers Association of America in 1995. It encourages farmers and backyard gardeners alike to plant a little extra every year and donate the abundance to the hungry. For more information, contact Ken Bacon.

USDA Commodities Program distributes commodities to our Partner Programs through a contract with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. During the last fiscal year, we distributed almost four million pounds of commodities to the hungry in Eastern Oklahoma.

Disaster Relief Program helps us respond quickly during a disaster. During the December 2007 ice storm, we purchased and distributed more than 2,000 pre-assembled boxes of food, enough to feed a family of four for five to seven days, and distributed another 400,000 pounds of food to emergency shelters and to our Partner Programs to help those most affected by the storm.