In 2021, the Galesburg Community Foundation established The Hunger Collaborative, which is comprised of individuals and leaders from 27 local nonprofits working together to develop strategies to reduce hunger by addressing some root causes, explains President Josh Gibb:
“If you could do anything so people didn’t need food, what would you do? We asked that question of our nonprofits and they said they would focus on workforce development, giving people the skills they need. They would focus on housing, transportation, and they would focus on awareness of services. Often when someone comes to a food pantry, they don’t really need food, they need finance counseling or they need housing assistance and there is not a real awareness of that. If we could rally resources around those four things, the nonprofits said that we would ultimately see people not needing emergency food pantries.”
The Galesburg Community Foundation is a philanthropic leader for charitable giving in the region, while also overseeing Community Funds in Knoxville, Roseville, Williamsfield, Alexis, and Monmouth.
