Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Griffin.
Hi Jack, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was 14 years old and a high schooler in Gwinnett County Public Schools back in 2013 when I watched a news story that showed how difficult life was for families left hungry and homeless after the Great Recession. Seeing the struggles of kids who faced these impossible circumstances immediately led me to try and find a food pantry where I could volunteer or donate, but that revealed the problem that I’ve now spent the last 8 years addressing: how difficult it is to find reliable information on food pantries in America.
I was just a regular kid wanting to help out at the time, but I asked myself “what if I was a kid who needed the free food given out at these programs?” That discovery and that question led me down a path of service to food insecure families in America that I’ve stayed on to this day.
A year later in 2014, I founded FoodFinder, a nonprofit organization that uses its website and mobile app to show families in need exactly when, where, and how to get help from food pantries, soup kitchens, and school meal sites nearby. Even from humble beginnings, FoodFinder has gone on to be an award-winning and nationally relied upon tool in the fight against hunger.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not always been smooth sailing. In fact, FoodFinder’s most turbulent time was right after we launched in Spring 2014. On one hand, we got a ton of positive feedback from helping a few thousand people in and around Gwinnett our first year of operating. But also, we had a few really rough meetings from industry insiders and experts where they doubted if we could even expand to serve all of Georgia, let alone the entire nation with information on food pantry information. Perseverance and creativity were the key, and a year and a half after we launched as a Gwinnett-specific hunger resource we re-launched to become the first-ever statewide map of every food pantry in Georgia.
We’ve been impressed with FoodFinder, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
FoodFinder is a nonprofit organization and tech platform whose mission is to make it as easy as it should be to find emergency food assistance nearby.
Our website (foodfinder.us) and mobile app (FoodFinder – Fighting Hunger) show food insecure families across America exactly when, where, and how to get help from more than 50,000 different food pantries, soup kitchens, and school meal sites nearby in their communities.
Between 2015 and 2020, Google searches for “food pantry near me” increased 1,550% from 400,000 to 6.6 million annually in the U.S.. We’re here to help struggling individuals and families find food relief nearby with ease and dignity, and due to the pandemic, that’s needed more than ever. As the largest, highest quality source of free food assistance available anywhere in the country, FoodFinder’s goal is connect the people looking for help with the places that offer it, all so that everyone is better off and taken care of as a result.
In terms of impact, FoodFinder serves 3,000-4,000 people who turn to our food pantry locator every single day. We went from serving ~220,000 people in 6 years pre-COVID to nearly 900,000 people who we’ve connected to emergency food information in the last 18 months.
We’re super proud of how far we’ve come, but we have a long way left to go. FoodFinder’s vision is a future where every family in America can always put food on the table, even in hard times. We won’t rest until we reach that goal.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
We define success as making a meaningful, visible, and positive difference on America’s fight against hunger.
Contact Info:
- Email: jack@foodfinder.us
- Website: https://foodfinder.us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodfinderus/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoodFinderUS/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoodFinderUS
- Donate to FoodFinder: https://www.
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Image Credits:
Kris Janovitz Photography
