Blogs

As our CEO steps into her new role, Rachael Ellis proudly announced our newest food access program: Harvesting Hope. Through ongoing partnerships with local farmers, the initiative is already expanding access to nutritious food for families while supporting the long-term sustainability of regional agriculture. Over the past several years, your food bank has built up a team of 60+ farms, and plans to grow that number to 100 during the next five years. One local farmer, Adam Thompson of Thompson Tender Beef in Knox County, opened up his farm to help share the impact.

Meet ALICE: the working households you might not see. As a follower of Second Harvest, you know hunger exists in our community, despite living in one of the wealthiest nations in the world. But there’s a group of neighbors you may not fully see, and their name is ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It’s not a person, but it represents a growing number of households who are working hard, often at more than one job, and still can’t afford the basics. Continue reading to learn more.

Recently, our team visited one of our farm partners in Sevier County: Beech Grove Farm. Read more to learn about Grant Scalf’s unique & regenerative method of farming to see how he’s regenerating our community, too—and there may even be some adorable pig photos involved.

Thank you for showing up for our neighbors all year long. Here’s a look back at 2025.

How many meals do we distribute per month? Do we frequently run out of food? How many people do we serve? How do we serve children during school breaks? Continue reading for answers to these frequently asked questions about your food bank and more.

Halloween brings spooky costumes and haunted houses — but in homes across East Tennessee, something even more frightening is lurking: hunger. Here’s the good news- hunger is easy to scare off when generosity shows up at their door. Take a look at what people in the community are doing to help their neighbors scare away hunger.

On the final day of Hunger Action Month, we’re letting an incredible group of Hunger Action Heroes do the talking: a handful of our Partner Agencies and the neighbors they serve. Continue reading as we share words from our Partner Agencies about our work together, specifically through our Food Rescue program, and the hope it has created for our neighbors.

We’re highlighting a Partner Agency that’s both a grower and a distributor: CAC Beardsley Community Farm in Knox County. Their Buy Back program grants opportunities for refugee farmers to sell their produce and give culturally-preferred foods back to the community. The food is purchased through one of our grants, and is provided to our neighbors in need at no cost to them. “It helps me buy stuff [for] my kids,” said Francine, one of the farmers. “It gives me more encouragement to keep going, to not just give up.” Continue reading as we walk through the farm and gather enriching stories about the Buy Back program’s growing impact.

At West Park Baptist Church, the Knox Haven Bread of Life (BOL) Store mimics a grocery store in nearly every sense, apart from visitors paying for their items. The folks they serve even receive an itemized receipt, helping them plan financially for whenever they’re ready to graduate from the pantry. The newly remodeled pantry’s layout was inspired by The Store, a pantry and nonprofit in Nashville founded by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Like The Store, Knox Haven’s BOL Store goes beyond traditional food assistance, offering other types of care that target root and accompanying challenges of food insecurity. We are proud to have had this pantry as a Hero Partner for the last 10 years! Continue reading as we share more about Knox Haven’s Bread of Life Store in an interview that occurred just days before their grand reopening.

Did you know May is Food Allergy Awareness Month? Although this is annually recognized, a new Second Harvest sub-program to further aid our neighbors with dietary restrictions, stemming from our recent research developments, has made this year’s Food Allergy Awareness Month even more pertinent. Continue reading as we talk all about this new sub-program, titled the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative, and tips for how you can help — backed by the telling results of our recent community needs assessment.