On Jordan’s latest excursion to open the Campus Kitchen at Eastern Carolina University, he was handed a report called the “FBCENC Gap Analysis Project” that was created by Professor Nicholas Didow, who is a business professor at UNC.  The first thing I did was googled FBENC, which stands for Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

            The report outlines the major food shortages that will be happening in North Carolina as far into the future as 2030.  The results are scary.  After utilizing three different methods of analysis, Didow showed that the FBCENC will need anywhere from 14 – 75 MILLION more pounds of food to feed their constituents!  This is a prime reason why Campus Kitchens and community partnerships are so important.  The amount of people that we serve directly affects hunger statistics, and the strain on local food banks.  The outlook does not look much better.  By 2030, Didow predicts that the amount of additional food needed by the FBCENC could be upwards of 108,834,715 pounds. 

            This situation is not unique to North Carolina.  Sadly this is the story as we look around the country with unemployment rates at their highest totals in years.  This can be a staggering statistic to tell everyone from kitchen managers to volunteers.  I tried to find the report on the web, but was unsuccessful.  Keep up the good work.  Your communities depend on it.

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