At the Great Plains Food Bank, we are deeply committed to creating a welcoming and supportive community. This means prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion—including digital accessibility on our website—while keeping food safety and nutrition at the heart of everything we do. Together, these standards guide us as we provide vital food assistance to neighbors across North Dakota and Clay County MN, who face hunger.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
We celebrate and respect the unique experiences, identities, and perspectives of every individual by embracing differences in race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, ability, faith, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, family or marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity, political viewpoints, and military or veteran status.
By honoring this diversity, we better reflect the communities we serve, foster an environment where staff and volunteers feel valued, and spark the creativity and collaboration needed to achieve our vision of hunger-free communities.
Digital Accessibility
Making food assistance accessible is a priority at the Great Plains Food Bank, for our neighbors across North Dakota and Clay County, MN, and the same holds true for our website. To help ensure everyone can easily find the information they need, we’ve added the Recite Me toolbar.
For more information, please review the PDF linked below.
Food Safety
Food safety is at the heart of our work and is a responsibility we hold with great care. We are deeply committed to ensuring that every item distributed through our network is wholesome, safe, and worthy of the trust our neighbors place in us.
To fulfill that commitment, the Great Plains Food Bank:
- Maintains compliance with the American Institute of Bakers (AIB) standards for food safety and passes an annual audit.
- Requires all employees who handle food product to obtain ServSafe certification and participate in all AIB and food safety related trainings.
- Implements food safety best practices using regulatory agencies, Feeding America, food industry partners, and third-party auditors as resources.
- Measures compliance against performance standards on an ongoing basis, regularly convening an interdepartmental food safety committee, conducting regular self-inspections, and third-party audits.
- Ensures continual improvement in food safety performance by considering food safety implications in decision-making, researching and applying industry best practices.
Nutrition
Access to nutritious food is essential to community health, and we work to support the well-being of those we serve as we pursue our mission to end hunger together.
The Impact of Inadequate Nutrition
Limited resources can make it difficult for people experiencing food insecurity to access nutritious foods, often leading to reliance on inexpensive, calorie-dense options. This increases the risk of obesity and chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. Stress, cycles of deprivation, and higher costs for healthy foods create additional challenges for low-income communities.
Our Nutrition Initiatives
To address these needs, the Great Plains Food Bank:
Sets goals to increase the proportion of nutritious foods distributed.
Supports partner agencies with guidance and reports comparing food choices to MyPlate dietary guidelines.
Offers nutrition education, training, and resources including healthy recipes and food safety tips.
Expands access to nutritious foods through mobile food pantries, perishable food drops, rural deliveries, and grants for produce refrigeration.
Provides SNAP application assistance and resources across all 54 counties served to help clients access additional healthy foods.
Through these efforts, we strive to ensure every client has access to wholesome, balanced meals—supporting both hunger relief and overall community health.