Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Bacans=Grounds
Hi Lauren, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Founded in 2008, the Islamic Food Bank (IFB) has grown to feed thousands of people across northwest Ohio year-round. Our focus is to extend consistent access to nutritious and delicious offerings to our neighbors in need in line with their preferences. We are proud to provide food that we would serve to our own families and guests in our own homes.
The Eid al-Adha giving program was the first formal, annual program of the Islamic Food Bank. In 2008, Muslim leaders noticed that many people donated money to complete the sacrifice overseas. They wanted to offer an option to help locally, knowing that this may be the only time of year that area families in need could receive fresh meat as a protein source. The following year, IFB began distributing food packages for Ramadan and Thanksgiving as well.
In 2014, leaders at the Islamic Food Bank began looking outward beyond the Muslim community to see what more they could do to support people in need in northwest Ohio. As a result of discussions and networking with community partners such as school districts and after-school programs, one significant gap in food access was identified. Many area schoolchildren receive free or subsidized breakfast and/or lunch during the school day but come home to empty pantries.
The Weekender Food Bag program was created to specifically address this gap. Nutritious and shelf-stable meals, snacks, and breakfast items are packed into our green tote bags and distributed regularly to area schools and after-school programs. School counselors, teachers, and other administrators send the bags home with economically disadvantaged students to ensure that they have uninterrupted access to nutritious food on weekends, holidays, and vacations.
Students who are food insecure often miss school, repeat grades, and become less competitive with lower levels of educational and technical skills. Child hunger has economic consequences that reverberate throughout communities, such as a huge loss in lifetime earnings. Child food insecurity is also associated with many health issues including anemia, cognitive problems, anxiety, and depression. With consistent access to nutritious, delicious food, students can learn, grow, and excel.
The Weekender Food Bag program is our largest program due to the immense increased need after the pandemic. Before the pandemic, the Islamic Food Bank provided around 3,000 Weekender Food Bags per year. As of 2024, 2,500+ bags are provided each month to schools and other community partners during the school year.
In 2017, IFB leaders learned that Helping Hands of St. Louis, under the umbrella of Catholic Charities Diocese of Toledo, provides warm meal service on Mondays through Fridays at its location on 6th Street in downtown Toledo. The Labre Program, run by St. John’s Jesuit High School and St. Ursula Academy, additionally provides warm meals and a free health clinic every Monday in the parking lot outside of Helping Hands. However, warm meal service was not available on the weekends. This posed a significant gap in food access for those struggling to make ends meet in East Toledo.
To fill this gap, the Islamic Food Bank introduced Mobile Food Bank visits. Our program now runs on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. Warm meals are prepared, packed, and distributed at neighborhood sites across Perrysburg and Toledo. The meals are also provided to shelter homes serving the homeless, domestic violence survivors, and other vulnerable populations in the city. Each meal includes a warm entree such as a chicken wrap or spaghetti with meat sauce, side items, fruit, dessert, and bottled water.
In 2020, IFB launched its signature pantry program at the Perrysburg Heights Community Association. Today IFB runs pantries at the Perrysburg Heights Community Association, Sunshine Communities, and Lucas Metropolitan Housing’s Weiler Homes complex. IFB also supports pantries at the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University to ensure that international students have access to culturally relevant food.
IFB grew, and continues to grow, due to the support of the greater Toledo community – Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Volunteers and donors come from every age, race, religion, and socioeconomic status. In 2024, IFB provided more than $1.7 million worth of food to the community.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Until 2023, IFB was entirely volunteer run. While growth was sustainable and stable between 2008-2019, the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 launched IFB into a new era. The growth of the organization and day-to-day activities were no longer feasible with only volunteer support. IFB hired its first staff member, a program manager, in 2o23. IFB continues to run with one staff member, now the Executive Director, a full-time volunteer warehouse manager, and is in the process of hiring a part-time warehouse assistant with grant funding from a local foundation.
Rapid growth also increased the need for funding. Before 2020, IFB was a “virtual” food bank, packing Weekender Food Bags at SeaGate Food Bank. With the increase in need, IFB began using the gymnasium at the Perrysburg Heights Community Association for packing events. As the most severe years of the pandemic drew to a close, IFB was in need of permanent space; the need in the community was not decreasing and as more organizations learned about IFB’s offerings filling gaps int he food security system, there was more desire for support. At the end of 2022, IFB moved into a 7,500 square foot warehouse in downtown Toledo. This led to the need for increased funding for operations and overhead including rent, utilities, and equipment. Costs for transportation and supplies also increased as use of IFB programs expanded.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our approach is to identify and fill gaps in consistent food access. We focus on gaps to avoid duplicating efforts by other organizations. IFB provides a variety of nutritious, culturally appropriate food offerings tailored to program guests. We want to offer dignity of choice to our guests – we aim to provide food that we would serve to our families or guests in our homes.
IFB is known not only for its food but its warm environment. Volunteers return over and over again. Guests of programs are treated as friends, not just recipients of services.
IFB is a resource not only for Muslim, refugee, and immigrant families, but also anyone in need of food. IFB ensures that all products follow Islamic dietary guidelines; no pork products or alcohol are in any of our offerings. All pantries also offer fresh and frozen halal meat.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The first key quality of the success of the Islamic Food Bank is not replicating the services provided by other organizations. While there is always competition for funding, we are providing a unique value to the community, This also makes collaboration with other organizations easier and more effective. Donors and supporters represent all segments of individual, corporate, and institutional donors.
The second aspect of the success of the Islamic Food Bank is the people. Every person who steps into the IFB warehouse is passionate about their community. The volunteers who founded IFB continue to be involved in leadership, day to day operations, and other aspects of programming; they cook 200 hot meals, coordinate distribution of goods, and maintain the facilities. Hundreds of volunteers work with IFB every year to build Weekender Food Bags, pack hot meals, and distribute bread and baked goods through the Panera Day-End Dough-Nation program. IFB is founded on passion for neighbors in need, and programs are executed by people who deeply believe in the mission to empower Muslims and the greater Toledo community to feed the hungry and spread peace.
Pricing:
- $10 provides $60 worth of food in a Weekender Food Bag.
- $25 supports a family for a week at an IFB pantry
- $120 sends a holiday food package to a family in need
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.islamicfoodbank.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IslamicFoodBankToledo/
