Second Harvest says mobile pantry at community gardens discontinued as agency shifts to partner agencies

Andy Irick, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank for Clark, Champaign and Logan counties, told the City of New Carlisle council on March 3 that the food bank has discontinued its regular mobile pantry at the community gardens as part of a deliberate change in operations to support its 60 partner agencies. "We took that action as part of an overall plan to reduce our direct service and put more focus on our 60 partner agencies and helping them to feed neighbors in the communities," Irick said.

The decision followed a period during the COVID-19 pandemic when the food bank was providing a disproportionate share of direct distributions, Irick said. He told council the mobile pantry at the community gardens served an average of about 50 people per distribution during the period he reviewed and that his data showed…