The team of the Chelyabinsk branch of Foodbank Rus welcomed management teams from the Nizhny Novgorod region, the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Republic of Bashkortostan, as well as representatives of authorities and relevant ministries of the Chelyabinsk region. The business visit was initiated by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) as part of a partnership with the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus aimed at creating a national network of food banks in the regions of the Russian Federation.
Representatives of government and non-profit organizations observed the activities of the food bank distribution center in Chelyabinsk, visited one of the distribution points of the local food bank in Korkino, and launched the Basket of Kindness food marathon in the X5 Group chain during the business visit.
Yulia Nazarova, public figure, co-founder and President of Foodbank Rus: “We are developing a national network of food banks in partnership with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives and strive to create a unified infrastructure for providing the ongoing aid to people in need and to cover as many regions in the country as possible. During the visit, we managed to clearly demonstrate the food bank model and its workflow: capacities required for its efficient operation and how distribution centers and points are arranged. Of course, we also demonstrated how we work with volunteers—our team, which allows us to effectively build a commodity chain and achieve significant results.”
Irina Gekht, First Deputy Governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Evgeny Litvinov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk region, and Irina Skalunova, Deputy Minister of Social Relations of the Chelyabinsk region shared with the management teams their experience of support and the effects of implementing the project to create a food bank in the region. It took the Chelyabinsk region just a couple of years since the emergence of the food bank to enter the top regions in terms of the social effect of food bank technologies, including food sharing. This clearly demonstrates how productive the interaction between the Fund and the authorities of a region of the Russian Federation can be.
Irina Gekht, First Deputy Governor of the Chelyabinsk region: “The Chelyabinsk branch of the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus became the first regional food bank in the country and ranked second in terms of the volume of aid in monetary terms. The Fund received support from the authorities of the Chelyabinsk region in the person of Governor Alexey Teksler. Local manufacturers handed over nearly 227 thousand kg of food in just 9 months of this year, and another 33.5 thousand kg of food were donated by buyers through food stores.”
Arina Kholscheva, director of the Biocyclical Economy practice: “The Agency is discussing the launch of new food banks in several regions with the Fund in 2023. We see interest in this project; regional authorities are ready to proactively get involved in its development: visit it “on field’, examine the experience of colleagues who have already made it through, and discuss the future configuration of the project, its potential difficulties and solutions.”
According to Lenara Ivanova, Minister of Family, Labor, and Social Protection of the Population of Bashkortostan, food sharing or a food bank has long been not just a philosophy, but a real solution to several problems. In the first place, it provides food to vulnerable categories of residents. There are chains in the republic that provide aid to families in difficult living conditions. A well-functioning food rescue system will benefits trading companies, dining courts, and families and single elderly people in need. The Minister is convinced that food banks have a great potential from a social, economic, and environmental standpoints.
Four more food banks will appear in new regions in 2023, with the support of the Agency. One more was launched in Veliky Novgorod in June.