Read more about Katie's Book
Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger
In the US, food banks and pantries provide billions of meals a year to people in need. And yet hunger still affects one in nine Americans. What are we doing wrong? In Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries (Publication Date: March 9, 2021), Katie Martin offers an inspiring new paradigm for tackling hunger, one where success is measured not by pounds of food distributed but by lives changed. The key is shifting our focus from a lack of food to strategies that build empathy, equity, and political will. Martin shares solutions in a warm, engaging style, with simple steps that anyone working or volunteering at a food bank or pantry can take today. Solutions range from providing client choice, where individuals select their own food with dignity, to offering job training programs and joining the fight for a living wage. As Martin writes, it takes more than food to end hunger. Picking up this insightful, lively book is a great first step.
Praise for Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries:
“Katie’s book sets a course with a hunger free America as True North. It goes
beyond the oft-expressed and data-informed premise that food insecurity is a
symptom of a complex mix of endemic challenges that people facing hunger
must confront. This book attempts to tackle some of them head-on by chronicling
promising practices that give us reason to hope that sustainably positive
outcomes are within our grasp should we dare to seize them.”
- Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America
“Thank you so much for your brilliance in creating such a moving text that will surely transform the face of food banks and pantries in the coming years. We are in the midst of building a new strategic framework and your work has been a pivotal part of the conversation.” - Jill L. Dixon, Director of Development, The Food Depot, Santa Fe, NM
“Katie Martin argues persuasively that it is time to shift from short term food
transactions to systems change. Her vision so resonates with all I’ve learned
through my own hunger work at the United Nations, the Capital Area Food
Bank, and now at PHA. Food equity is health equity. We can and must do better.”
- Nancy E. Roman, CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and former
CEO of Capital Area Food Bank
“Thanks to YOU, Katie. Your book has provided us a tool to come together around our work to address the root causes of hunger and amplify client voice, experience, and choice. We are so very appreciative of your contributions to this work, as well as the time you dedicated to us here in Maryland.” - Meg Kimmel, Maryland Food Bank
“The timing of your book has been a godsend and has given a diverse group of coworkers some common language and forward-thinking steps to help us in our work.” - Carol Fazioli, MANNA FoodBank
Articles and Reviews about Katie’s book:
Read an interview from Civil Eats about Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries
Read an excerpt from the book about scarcity mentality in Nonprofit Quarterly
Read a book review from Mark Winne, a pioneer of food security and community food systems
Check out a book review from Food Bank News, a trade publication advancing best practices in hunger relief