While food banks and food pantries are both nonprofits with similar missions, they operate much differently from one another. Food banks rarely provide direct service to individuals in need. Rather, food banks provide food to hundreds of food pantries and other nonprofits throughout the region, which, in turn, serve individuals.

Food banks are larger nonprofits with massive warehouses and distribution channels that serve large regions. Food pantries are typically smaller nonprofits that serve individuals in specific counties, towns or zip codes.

Foodlink collects, stores and distributes food to a network of nonprofit members that provide food assistance to people in the Rochester area. Our members includes food pantries, community meal programs and homeless shelters; as well as other nonprofit organizations with food needs (e.g. day cares and group homes). Because we receive millions of pounds of donated food and can purchase at very low prices — our members save money on their food budgets.

Although Foodlink relies on truckloads of donated food from partners such as Wegmans Food Markets (which donates millions of pounds each year), we also purchase plenty of products, as well. Foodlink’s massive storage capabilities afford us ample purchasing power, so we can pass along the savings to our members. We also support dozens of local farms so we can distribute more fresh produce, which now accounts for about 25% of our throughput each year.

One important source of food is through the USDA’s The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which provides free, U.S.-grown food and storage/transportation funding to food banks across the nation.

Foodlink can only distribute food that meets strict food-safety standards established by agencies such as the USDA, NYS Ag & Markets, AIB, and Feeding America. As a food distributor, populations that are especially vulnerable to food-borne illness (children, elderly, and those with immuno-compromised systems) often receive our products and we must keep their safety top of mind at all times.

We also recently strengthened our commitment to provide healthier foods to our network, with a new nutrition ranking system within our Community Health Commitment.

Foodlink serves 10 counties in the Rochester and Finger Lakes region of New York: Allegany, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates.

Our service area is more than 7,000 miles, which stretches from the lake shore to the Pennsylvania border.