Putting a Bow on 2025
Thank you for showing up for our neighbors all year long. Here’s a look back at 2025.
January Jumpstart
- Pounds Distributed: 2,162,028
- Food Rescue Pounds: 985,386
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 575,176
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 12,560
- Volunteer Hours: 2,429
- Fleet Miles Driven: 24,006
New year, same mission: Food for All in East Tennessee. In January, we shared Misti’s story, and it’s one of resilience. Misti graduated from our Path of Hope program. Today, she provides food and stability for her two sons.
A big snowstorm hit, increasing the demand for our services. As the temperatures plummet each winter, folks in our service area may be making the difficult choice between heat and eat.
February is for Food for Kids!
- Pounds Distributed: 1,992,351
- Food Rescue Pounds: 899,051
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 539,981
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 12,149
- Volunteer Hours: 3,051
- Fleet Miles Driven: 22,500
In 2025, our Food for Kids program reached its 22nd anniversary! Our annual Pack the Bag fundraising event for the program provided more than 136,000 bags of kid-friendly food to children in East Tennessee. During 2025’s Pack the Bag, WBIR Channel 10 helped us get the word out with their live “road show” at the Avenue Dream Center, one of our Partner Agencies.
Towards the end of the month, Second Harvest held a Disaster Relief Mobile Distribution in Morgan County after tornados damaged the community.
MARCHing Forward
- Pounds Distributed: 2,110,370
- Food Rescue Pounds: 947,487
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 605,935
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 9,603
- Volunteer Hours: 3,403
- Fleet Miles Driven: 27,997
In March, we celebrated National Nutrition Month with the theme for 2025, “Food Connects Us.” Food is more than just fuel — it’s a way to share experiences, build relationships, and support overall well-being.
On March 12th, the First Lady of Tennessee, Maria Lee, visited one of our Partner Agencies in Cocke County to volunteer: Sunset Gap Community Center. Along with volunteers, she helped distribute more than 200 meals to Tennesseans affected by Hurricane Helene.
On March 24th, our food bank had 21 tractor-trailer loads containing $722,000 worth of USDA commodities food canceled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thanks to support from the community, our food access programs remained uninterrupted.
April VOLunteers
- Pounds Distributed: 1,928,574
- Food Rescue Pounds: 927,798
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 527,510
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 10,233
- Volunteer Hours: 2,796
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,297
In April, we celebrated Volunteer Appreciation Month and recognized Lisa Burkett as 2025’s Volunteer of the Year.
On April 11th, we thanked and honored volunteers, sponsors, and Partner Agencies of Second Harvest alike at our annual Spring for Food awards ceremony.
Next, we brought hundreds of our partners together at our annual Agency Relations Conference. Through several breakout sessions, we continued to strengthen the partnerships we have with 670+ (now 780+!) Partner Agencies to better serve our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
Lastly, we finished our Volunteer Appreciation Month strong by hosting Jahmai Mashack, UT men’s basketball alumnus for a VOLunteer shift in our warehouse!
May the Food Be with You
- Pounds Distributed: 2,023,316
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,010,038
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 562,435
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 16,930
- Volunteer Hours: 2,364
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,856
On May 19th, Second Harvest joined a number of non-profit organizations at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for ORNL Gives Day.
During Food Allergy Awareness Week, we helped the community learn more about food allergies, and what we (with our Partner Agencies) are doing to better serve our East Tennessee neighbors.
Jumping into June
- Pounds Distributed: 2,091,611
- Food Rescue Pounds: 982,214
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 612,752
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 12,468
- Volunteer Hours: 2,721
- Fleet Miles Driven: 22,537
In June, 99.1 Sports Animal radio personality Josh Ward ran 40 miles in one day to raise funds for our most expensive hunger-relief program, Food for Kids!
From June 6th-8th, we executed our 3rd annual Volley for Hope Pickleball Tournament with 198 players, 298 pickleball matches, and over 362,700 meals raised. This year, for the first time in the history of the tournament, championship matches were livestreamed on local television partner WATE Channel 6!
On June 24th, we celebrated the launch of our A.R. Johnson Legacy Society with partner PYA Waltman Capital. The society is named after Rick Johnson, who helped us secure our new facility in 2011 to better serve our community.
Joy in July
- Pounds Distributed: 2,257,568
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,013,421
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 690,502
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 8,159
- Volunteer Hours: 2,830
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,565
In July, we partnered with Beardsley Farm for their Buy Back program, which grants opportunities for refugee farmers to sell their produce and give culturally-preferred foods back to the community. The food was purchased through one of our grants, and was provided to our neighbors in need at no cost.
We also congratulated several team members for their contributions to passing our annual AIB food safety warehouse inspection with flying colors, and for getting a perfect score on our annual inventory audit.
A Productive August
- Pounds Distributed: 2,241,502
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,008,578
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 753,167
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 3,532
- Volunteer Hours: 1,990
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,601
In August, we released our Annual Report, revealing a milestone of 27.3 million pounds of food distributed in the past year.
On August 5th, we participated in an annual back-to-school event titled Shoes for School, where we distributed Food for Kids bags.
WBIR’S Channel 10’s Tackling Hunger Challenge began! 22 East Tennessee high schools went head-to-head to raise food and funds to provide meals for East Tennesseans experiencing food insecurity.
The Knoxville Smokies volunteered at our warehouse. They packed 3 pallets of Mobile Pantry boxes for an upcoming distribution serving 300 families — a record-breaking result for a two-hour shift!
We hosted 200+ community members at our facility for our annual Hunger Action Month Kickoff Breakfast, spreading the word about food insecurity in East Tennessee.
September Successes
- Pounds Distributed: 2,206,049
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,041,897
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 649,311
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 8,636
- Volunteer Hours: 2,867
- Fleet Miles Driven: 23,255
In September, members of our community within all 18 counties stepped up to help during Hunger Action Month. The campaign is all about advocacy, education, and awareness, and they did just that through hundreds of food drives!
Thanks to funding from Food Lion Feeds, several of our Partner Agencies got “makeovers” to better serve our neighbors.
An Unexpected October
- Pounds Distributed: 2,556,504
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,028,731
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 600,247
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 15,608
- Volunteer Hours: 3,211
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,677
In October and November, the federal government shutdown (Oct. 1–Nov. 12) created real strain; missed paychecks and disruptions to SNAP benefits for more than 100,000 East Tennessee households. Second Harvest saw a 32% increase in neighbors needing help, but thanks to preparation and an overwhelming outpouring of community support, we kept our shelves stocked and our programs running.
Feeling Thankful in November
- Pounds Distributed: 2,904,128
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,080,486
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 606,794
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 21,038
- Volunteer Hours: 3,777
- Fleet Miles Driven: 26,814
November was a month for the books here at your food bank! With an increased need still climbing, we enacted our emergency plan in response to growing nutrition access needs throughout our 18-county service area. Thanks to steadfast community support, we kept programs running as we worked to meet rising demand with compassion and resolve.
This holiday season, we truly had an attitude of gratitude! Our annual Thanksgiving Distribution served more than 800 households and 2,700 neighbors in our service area. During the month of November, we were able to distribute 6,424 turkeys for the holidays.
While neighbors in our service area enjoyed football season, Chris and Colin Brazzell of Tennessee Football enjoyed VOLunteering at one of our Mobile Pantries! Their corresponding fundraiser helped to bring in more than $1,500 for our hunger–relief programs.
Double the Hope in December
- Pounds Distributed: 2,359,515
- Food Rescue Pounds: 1,053,121
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 566,320
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 71,394
- Volunteer Hours: 3,424
- Fleet Miles Driven: 22,819
We kicked off December the best way we know how, with our annual Giving Tuesday and Double Your Donation events.
On Giving Tuesday (December 2nd), WVLT hosted their Days of Giving food and fund drive, providing our community with more than 40,100 meals.
On December 4th, we hosted our annual Double Your Donation Day open house and telethon at our facility.
By the end of our Giving Tuesday and Double Your Donation events, the community contributed over $1.7M in total, allowing us to provide more than 5 million meals! We certainly ended the year with an attitude of gratitude for our community.
2025 By the Numbers (January—December)
- Pounds Distributed: 26,833,516
- Food Rescue Pounds: 11,978,208
- Pounds of Produce Distributed: 7,290,130
- Food Drive Pounds Received: 202,310
- Volunteer Hours: 34,863
- Fleet Miles Driven: 302,924
Thank you for standing with our neighbors. We can’t wait to see what we do together in 2026.
To learn more about Second Harvest, read more of our blogs, or explore how you can contribute to food security in East Tennessee, please visit the following links:
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