Emergency Food Network

Mission

The mission of Emergency Food Network (EFN) is "to provide Pierce County with a consistent, diverse, and nutritious food supply so that no person goes hungry."

In Pierce County, 1 in 10 people are food insecure. Emergency Food Network distributes over 13 million pounds of food each year to food pantries and meal sites ensuring our neighbors receive the nutritious food they need to thrive.

EFN's Work

EFN is Pierce County's emergency food distributor, providing our network of more than 75 partner food pantries, meal sites, and shelters with over one million pounds of food each month, at no cost to them. 

In 2022, more than 2 million visits were made to our partner food pantries, the most visits in any year in our history. Visits are continuing to rise as families have seen a reduction to pandemic-era SNAP benefits while food prices are high. In March of 2023, our partners served more than 200,000 visits in a single month for the first time ever. 

EFN uses a variety of strategies to provide our partners with a reliable supply of nutritious food. We collect donations from grocery stores, farmers, and food drives. We serve as the regional contractor for government food programs. We grow food at our Mother Earth Farm in Puyallup and we purchase food by the truckload through our Co-op Food Purchasing Program. In 2020, EFN also started our Home Delivery Program, which provides food delivery to more than 250 families each week throughout the county.  

Your GiveBig donation will help EFN and our partners keep their shelves stocked during the busy summer months. This summer, more than 70,000 students in Pierce County will lose access to the free and reduced-cost meals they receive at school. Many families will need to turn to food pantries to make up for these meals during the summer. With your support, we can ensure that no person goes hungry in Pierce County.

Recognition

We are so grateful to Coordinated Care for being our matching partner for this year's GiveBIG!
 
Coordinated Care is matching the first 10,000 meals donated through GiveBIG.  Help us use this opportunity to double your impact and provide even more healthy meals for our neighbors in need!