The annual Feeding Oklahoma Drive kicks off on Oct. 1 with the goal of raising enough food and funds to provide 2 million meals to families, children and seniors living with hunger in Oklahoma. The month-long drive benefits the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and their partner agencies across the state.

The effort claims that Oklahoma is the fifth-hungriest state in the nation, where one in six Oklahomans faces hunger every day. The majority of clients served by the Oklahoma food banks are chronically hungry children, seniors living on fixed incomes, and families struggling to make ends meet each month.

“This drive comes at a critical time of year before people start thinking about the needs of many of our hungry neighbors during the holidays,” said Eileen Bradshaw, executive director of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. 

Established in 1980, the Regional Food Bank is the state’s largest hunger-relief organization. Last fiscal year, the nonprofit distributed nearly 50 million pounds of food items through a network of more than 1,200 charitable feeding programs and schools in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties.

Last fiscal year, the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma distributed more than 28.1 million pounds of food and products, more than 41 percent of which was fresh produce. Its network of 720 programs and agencies includes emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, after-school programs, senior centers, and veterans’ initiatives in 24 eastern Oklahoma counties.

Founded in 1981, the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma manages 275 direct feeding sites and distributes donated items to 360 Partner Agencies operating programs in 24 counties of eastern Oklahoma. Feeding programs include emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, child feeding programs, senior feeding programs, and veteran’s initiatives. For more information, visit okfoodbank.org.