ANCHORAGE FOOD PANTRY

Serving neighbors who work but find it difficult to put food on the table and struggling middle class families in our community

EASTER DINNER FOR STRUGGLING FAMILIES (8).png

Anchorage Food Pantry - Southside

At the RACS South Anchorage Food Pantry, our clients are primarily among the struggling middle class and working poor, who have been particularly impacted by job loss through the pandemic yet still do not qualify for government assistance. We are available to serve about 150 -200 people per month, distributing approximately 1500 pounds of food per month to Anchorage residents.

We know the shame that comes with not being able to make ends meet or buy enough food for your family. We are here to help, and we will protect our beneficiaries' privacy as they get back on their feet.

BEFORE

Temporarily closed for construction

10715 Our Road,

Anchorage, AK 99507

(By the Zoo)

PROPOSED SOUTH ANCHORAGE FOOD PANTRY CONSTRUCTION

Click here for details

Anchorage Food Pantry - Midtown

Our Midtown Anchorage Food Pantry opened in summer 2022 at a central location on Tudor/MacInnes on a city bus route that can be accessed from all parts of Anchorage. This new location helps us expand our services to our neighbors who are struggling to put food on the table, and who have been particularly impacted by job loss through the pandemic yet still do not qualify for government assistance.

PANTRY LOCATIONS:

Anchorage Food Pantry
Midtown

4317 MacInnes St,

Anchorage, AK 99508

Hours of Operation
Wednesdays 11am-2pm

Anchorage Food Pantry
Southside

Temporarily closed for construction

10715 Our Road,

Anchorage, AK 99507

(By the Zoo)

Hot Meal Cafe

In addition to our pantry services, Revive Alaska is launching our hot meal cafe service. Our hot meal cafe will be housed in two locations: at the South Anchorage Life Center and Midtown serving neighbors who work, but find it difficult to put food on the table. It will also service middle-class families in our community that simply are not able to afford three square meals a day.

With high inflation and an increasingly high cost of living, our hot meals are provided to help reduce feeding costs for most families that are struggling to make ends meet. In this way, we are helping to meet the need of housing security, whereby the money patrons save on one hot meal a week can be applied instead towards a monthly utility bill, the cost of rent or other such expenses. The cafe will feature restaurant-style wait service where families can spend quality time together once a week while enjoying a hot quality meal.

UPCOMING EVENT

Proposed Boroughs
and Rural Alaska
Food Program

From 2023 RACS plans to initiate a program in collaboration with Airlines and other airline groups including bush carriers, faith-based organizations, and community centers across the state to make food available for everyone who lacks. RACS will collect and package the food, the airlines will help in transporting the packaged food, while the churches and other organizations will help in distributing food to the hungry within their boroughs and villages.

Rural Alaska is considered a food desert. This is due to many of these off-road communities having a lack of connectedness to main thoroughfares like Anchorage, Kenai, or Fairbanks and their related food resources. When villages do not have a grocery store, when supplies are delayed from getting to grocery stores due to inclement weather, when the high transportation costs of goods are factored in, or when grocery stores are present, the prices are extremely exorbitant.

People in these community groups live off subsistence hunting and fishing, but when those things lack or dry out, essential foods and their shortages become inevitable.

According to Feeding America, the #3 MYTH concerning hunger is that it “is most frequently found in cities. [The fact is, however, is that] Hunger is common in rural areas—including some of the farming communities that grow America’s crops. Seventy-nine percent of the counties with the highest hunger rates in America are in rural areas. Limited access to jobs, transportation, and education makes it tough to earn a living in remote areas like rural Alaska. Some are forced to choose between paying for groceries or other essentials like heat. This is an especially difficult choice for parents during the winter, and it’s all too common.”

RACS plans to partner with the Alaska Tribal Native Health Consortium and the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. (APIA) Elders Program to help supplement food aid in the areas they currently serve. We are also looking to establish a relationship with FDPIR is a federal program funded by a United States Department of Agriculture Food Nutrition Service grant. FDPIR food packages may include fresh produce, canned meats, poultry and fish, canned fruits, vegetables and beans, canned soups and sauces, pasta, rice and other grains, cheese, egg mix, dry and evaporated milk, flour, cornmeal, bakery mixes and more. Eligible households include Alaska Native households in Alaska Native Tribal communities, American Indian and non-Indian households residing on a reservation and households living in an approved area that include at least one member of a federally recognized Tribe. To be considered, households must also meet income standards.