Food Bank of NW Indiana using innovative Order Ahead Food Locker program to fight hunger
Food Bank of Northwest Indiana serves both Lake and Porter counties
LAKE COUNTY, Ind. (WLS) -- On this Giving Tuesday, you may want to consider throwing your support to your local food bank.
The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana serves both Lake and Porter counties. Nearly 91,000 people face food insecurity in that area.
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But one of the many ways they're helping fight hunger is through their free and innovative Order Ahead Food Locker program.
"Maybe someone who doesn't qualify for food stamps and is working two jobs. They can come to the locker and just get their food. it takes them about two minutes. They can set a pin and punch it in and open the locker. It's refrigerated or it can be a freezer ," Julie Anderson- innovative technologies coordinator for the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, said.
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Right now, the lockers offer a variety box that includes all the food groups. But the goal is to eventually let the customers choose their own items.
"People can be served with dignity and respect, our veterans, our single parents, our elderly," Anderson said. "They can come in the middle of the night, if they want. if they don't want anyone to see them and I love that part of it because it's getting great food to great people in a very respectful way.
There are currently five operational lockers in Northwest Indiana with a sixth one coming soon to Crown Point.
The program is helping feed more than one thousand people a month
