Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana President and Chief Executive Officer Fred Glass announced Wednesday that the food bank has restated its organizational purpose, mission, vision and values. The restatement is the product of a months-long process that included extensive input from Gleaners employees and culminated in a presentation to the Gleaners Board of Directors at its recent February meeting.
“A major component of the restatement is to be clear and direct about what has always been the case at Gleaners: we put people facing hunger first, and we proactively work with others to serve them,” Glass said. “Fighting hunger is a team sport, and we are proud to be a part of that team.”
As part of the process, for the first time ever Gleaners has articulated a specific Purpose: “United with others, optimize equitable access to nutritious food for people facing hunger and empower them to overcome the conditions causing their food insecurity.” The Purpose intentionally starts with Gleaners commitment to collaboration.
Gleaners also restated its Mission: “To be a leader in the fight against hunger,” a small, but significant, change from its previously stated mission: “To lead the fight against hunger.” Gleaners is proud to be a leader in the fight against hunger and did not want its previous Mission language to suggest it believed itself to be the only leader. Again, Gleaners is committed to leading and collaborating.
Consistent with the above, Gleaners’ new 10-point Values statement purposefully starts with “put people facing hunger first” and includes “proactively work with others.”
“Taken together, these restatements will help make clear to folks inside and outside Gleaners that, while we embrace the responsibility of being a leader in the fight against hunger,” Glass said, “we do so as a teammate in the same fight, always putting people facing hunger first, not only to feed them now but to help empower them to overcome the conditions causing their food insecurity.”
Reflecting the commitment of every Gleaners employee to work together internally and externally to boldly purse its mission, the restatement concludes: “We are One Gleaners, and we are part of something bigger than ourselves.”
About Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc.
Gleaners was founded in 1980 and is a respected leader within Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network. Since that time, Gleaners has distributed more than 800 million pounds of food and critical grocery products through nearly 300 hunger relief agencies, schools and community partners serving Hoosiers facing food insecurity.
In addition to food distribution to agencies, Gleaners serves its most vulnerable populations, seniors and children, through specialty programs such as Gleaners2Go, Home Delivery, School-Based Pantries, Mobile Pantries, Summer Meals for Kids, and Senior Hunger Initiative programs.
Charity Navigator has recognized Gleaners as a 4-Star organization, the highest rating for charity demonstrating fiscal management and accountability. In addition, Gleaners is an accredited charity with the Better Business Bureau and has earned a Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. To learn more, visit gleaners.org.