DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Fewer people are going hungry in the Quad Cities, according to the head of the River Bend Foodbank.
On Monday, May 21, volunteers and partners with area food pantries gathered at the foodbank in Davenport. They were there for annual training, but also got some good news.
"We’re celebrating because we’re closer to ending hunger than ever before and we’re going to press on until everyone’s fed," said River Bend Foodbank President and CEO Michael Miller.
River Bend serves 23 counties, and the Meal Gap in that area is 20,664,500. That's down 1.4 million meals from the previous year.
Also, in the last 12 months, the food bank and its partners distributed 13,466,746 meals, a 19% increase from the year before.
In the Quad Cities area the unmet need rests at 7.3 million meals, which is less than half of what it was three years prior.