Operation Sandwich - Fight Hunger in America

The Sandwich: Sustaining, Portable, Nutritious.

And thanks to donors like you, FREE for America's nearly 50 million food insecure. This means over 16 million children live in a household that struggles to provide the food necessary for an active, healthy lifestyle. And without adequate nutrition, these children often perform worse in school, limiting their future opportunities and perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty.

Food banks, once thought to only provide for the homeless or step in during emergencies, help bridge this gap. In many cases, they're the only thing helping poor, working families make ends meet. And one food bank, Northwest Harvest, has teamed up with GreaterGood to launch Operation Sandwich to fight back against hunger. GreaterGood staff and other local volunteers will prepare sandwiches every week for the homeless and working poor. Then, as the program grows, we'll roll it out to food banks across the country.

And you can help. With just $10, volunteers can make sandwiches to feed 25 hungry people.

As simple as they may seem, sandwiches provide an easy, cost-effective way to craft complete and ready-to-eat meals that are also handheld and portable, meaning they travel well to school or work where prohibitive prices often mean missed meals. Sandwiches are also nutritious, and for some homeless, it might be the only meal of the day.

Update from the Field

May 2018

Between January and April, YOUR donations helped provide 10,402 sandwiches for hungry people at the Cherry Street Food Bank! One of the people you've helped is Patricia* (name changed), a young mother recovering from a car accident. It's difficult to make ends meet while paying off her medical bills. Getting a job should have helped, but her new income means she is now just a few dollars over the limit and no longer qualifies for food stamps. Losing eligibility for food stamps was especially painful because it happened during the summer, a time when her children don't have access to free meals at school. Patricia stops at the Cherry Street Food Bank weekly to take advantage of their pantry and sandwich program. Many people in her situation stop by to pick up a sandwich from the Cherry Street Food Bank on their way to work, so whatever small amount of food in their cupboards at home is available for the rest of their family. Your generous donations have made it possible to keep this program running and feed thousands of people a week!

January 2018

In 2017, YOUR donations helped Operation Sandwich provide 28,787 sandwiches for 17,469 individual clients. Because of your donations, people like Sheena can have food security. Sheena is a recently divorced mother of two pre-teen boys. She is now a single parent and struggling after getting laid off from work as a health aide. She is fearful of homelessness. She stated, “Even if you can find a place to rent, we got evicted because we complained too many times. The refrigerator they gave us kept breaking; the furnace broke. We paid our rent on time, but they come around and evict you, and if you have an eviction on your record then no one is going to rent to you, even if it’s not your fault.” The final link in this chain of events is to end up homeless, so knowing there are groceries and take-out sandwich lunches at the food bank three days a week is an enormous help.

September 2017

Our goal for this project when it began in 2013 was to expand our Monday-Wednesday “Sandwich Brigade” lunch service at Cherry Street Food Bank to a third day every week. Thanks to GreaterGood.org and your donations, we have met that goal, and we continue to provide a Friday lunch service every week, with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and, as of March 2017, the option of tuna sandwiches as well. Our primary impact metric is the number of sandwiches distributed. During the May 2017 to August, 2017 grant period, GreaterGood’s grant contribution provided an additional 9,099 sandwiches for hungry Cherry Street Food Bank clients. Our secondary impact metric is the number of clients served each week. During this grant period, we served 5,804 individual clients on Fridays, providing a PB&J and/or a tuna sandwich lunch.

Greater Good donors made it possible to serve Friday PB&J Sandwich Lunches to hungry clients at Cherry Street Food Bank from September to December 2016.

GreaterGood.org is devoted to addressing the health and well-being of people (particularly women and children), animals, and the planet.

Northwest Harvest provides nutritious food to hungry people statewide in a manner that respects their dignity, while fighting to eliminate hunger. Their vision is ample nutritious food available to everyone in Washington State.