85,000 households a month was never the size of hunger in this region. It was the size of our fleet.
Hunger in our 9-state service area is not a food shortage. It is a delivery failure. Farms have food they cannot move; families have benefits they cannot access; young adults have potential that the food-bank line doesn't unlock. 23 trucks and 47 routes proved the model — $1.17 per meal, all-in — but 85,000 households is what 23 trucks can reach. The families past the route are not off the list. They are off the map.
The $1.17 cost changes the conversation because it is already proven — not projected. Every rescue hub, every route, every navigator adds up to a system that is efficient enough to scale. HarvestCorps is placing 78% of graduates into living-wage jobs. SNAP navigators have already unlocked $21M in benefits for 8,700 families who earned them and didn't know it. The infrastructure works. This investment carries it further.
Why 150,000 and not 100,000? Because 100,000 is a larger food bank. 150,000 is a regional food system. At that threshold, the Mobile Markets stop supplementing what families buy at the store and start replacing a distribution gap the store never closed. Below it, we are meeting an emergency. At it, we are preventing one.
And why not more? The 9-state service region sets the boundary. The $18M is what doubling capacity costs at $1.17/meal efficiency — the math set the number. Three years is the build cycle for fleet, cold-chain infrastructure, hubs, and trained navigators. We didn't round up to make a bigger case. We built the case for what doubling actually costs.
"To rescue 40,000 tons a year from 220+ partners and turn regional food-system waste into 50M+ additional meals will require $5M."
| 3 regional rescue hubs — cold storage + sort facilities | $2.1M† |
| Rescue fleet — 8 additional refrigerated vehicles | $800K† |
| Partner development — 80 new food-rescue partnerships | $700K† |
| Processing, QA & traceability systems | $600K† |
| Supply coordination staffing — 3-year run | $800K† |
| Total | $5.0M |
"To expand from 85,000 to 150,000 households a month — fresh food delivered to families, not families traveling to food — will require $9M."
| Fleet — 12 new Mobile Market trucks, cold-chain outfitting (†$300K each) | $3.6M† |
| Hub infrastructure — 6 regional staging hubs + cold storage | $1.8M† |
| New route operations — drivers, fuel & maintenance, 28 routes × 3 yrs | $2.4M† |
| On-truck SNAP & benefits navigation support | $1.2M† |
| Total | $9.0M |
"To move families from emergency relief to earned independence — SNAP navigation and HarvestCorps at scale — will require $4M."
| SNAP navigator expansion — 18 new navigators × 3-year salaries | $2.1M† |
| HarvestCorps — 135 additional slots/year (curriculum, wages, mentorship) | $1.2M† |
| Navigator technology & case management platform | $400K† |
| Employer partnerships & career placement infrastructure | $300K† |
| Total | $4.0M |