Hunger Free Kansas
Together We Can Ensure Every Kansan Eats
About
Overview
Kansas helps feed the world — yet many of our own neighbors struggle to fill their pantries. The Hunger Free Kansas Campaign was created to address that challenge by mobilizing community members across the state.
During the campaign (launched in July of 2025), non-profits from across Kansas were invited to help develop and carry out projects aimed at reducing food insecurity.
Campaign Parameters
- Projects focused on food insecurity in Kansas.
- Teams were eligible for micro-grants of up to $5,000.
- All projects were to be completed by December 2025.
- Participants attended a one-day workshop.
Every participant brought a unique perspective, helping shape meaningful local efforts to reduce hunger. There were roughly 75 mini grants awarded with 160 applications received. The data below gives you a snapshot of the work that happened.
Details
Organized by KLC Kansas Health Foundation
- Campaign timeline
- Jul 31 – Feb 27, 2026
- Project deadline
- Dec 15, 2025
Action Projects
Tri-Agency Intervention dba Liberal Area Coalition for Families
Bridge the gap between households & SNAP programs to increase participation & ensure more families receive the support they need.
Chase County Care and Compassion (C4 Food Pantry)
We will create and awareness and fundraising campaign that will support an initiative allowing C4 to accept donated livestock by providing funds to cover meat p...
Stafford County Economic Development Inc
Bring together local institutions with meal plans— such as the hospital, elderly care homes, and schools—to increase their sourcing of locally produced food.
Dashboard
- Projects created
- 77
- Total investment
- $403,178
- New partnerships
- 252
- People impacted
- 25,954
Demographics
- Persons with low income
-
56% (43)
- Racial and ethnic groups
-
22% (17)
- Children ages 0-18
-
21% (16)
- Rural individuals
-
17% (13)
- Persons with limited English proficiency
-
5% (4)
- Persons with chronic illnesses
-
3% (2)
- Persons with housing instability or who are unhoused
-
3% (2)
Project Type
- Social Services Access
-
43% (33)
- Alternative Food Systems
-
26% (20)
- Cross Sector Learning
-
21% (16)
- School-based Nutrition Programs
-
9% (7)
AI summary of the biggest barriers to progress
- Funding constraints and sustainability challenges (government/shutdown impacts, grant timing, storage costs, and resources not aligning with needs)
- Staffing and volunteer capacity gaps leading to bottlenecks and burnout (limited staff, turnover, onboarding needs, and alignment with multiple partners)
- Transportation and access barriers (lack of vehicles, rural travel challenges, language barriers, and scheduling constraints)
AI summary of learnings
-
Trust-building and strong partnerships are foundational to engaging communities, enabling referrals, and sustaining collaboration across organizations and programs.
-
Robust coordination and backbone/support for cross-sector collaboration (centralized resources, streamlined referrals, shared data/information) are essential to scale impact and improve access.
-
Addressing practical and psychosocial barriers with dignity-centered, culturally relevant, wraparound approaches (transportation, cost, documentation, stigma, education) is consistently necessary to increase access and participation.
Project Map
| Name | Location | New partnerships | Investment | People impacted | Created |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action Planning for Collective Impact | Wichita | 33 | $25,000 | 66 | |
| Addressing Food Insecurity in Northwest Kansas: A Citizens Health Initiative | Colby | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Addressing food insecurity in school age children | Liberal | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| After School Project Meal Kit | Ottawa | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Argentine Healthy Food Access Initiative | Wyandotte County, Kansas City, KS -- Specifically 66106 and 66103 | 15 | $5,000 | 1,500 | |
| Barber County Food Forward: A Rural Hunger Plan for Collective Action- Phase One: Community Conversation | Barber County | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Bridging Community Food Insecurity Gaps through Care Coordination | Mitchell County | 2 | $5,000 | 150 | |
| Cafecito USD443 | – | 1 | $5,000 | 135 | |
| Care Cupboard Sustainability Project | Kansas City | 1 | $5,000 | 1,200 | |
| Community Kitchen of Kindness - A Learning Journey | Wichita | 2 | $5,000 | 200 | |
| Cooking for Change in Central Topeka | Topeka | 3 | $5,000 | 200 | |
| Creating a Rooftop Terrace Garden at NICHE | NICHE, Wichita, KS | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| De-Future Hub: Youth, Growth & Fellowship | Wichita | 4 | $1,000 | 180 | |
| Demon Closet | Dodge City | 1 | $5,000 | 150 | |
| Despensas Nueva Cosecha | Dodge City | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| ECDC Teaching Pantry and Community Garden | Wichita | 4 | $5,000 | 79 | |
| Empower Local Food Access | Montgomery County, KS | 7 | $5,000 | 120 | |
| Empowering Recovery Through Nutrition Education and Resource Access | Newton | 2 | $5,000 | 132 | |
| FAMILY FIRST PROJECT | Dodge City | 2 | $5,000 | 50 | |
| Farm2Families - Increasing Fresh, Local Food in Armourdale | Kansas City | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Feed the Future, Powered by the Climate and Energy Project | Pratt | 6 | $5,000 | 600 | |
| Feeding Families | Downtown YMCA, Wichita, 67214 | 2 | $5,000 | 45 | |
| Feeding Healthy Families | Topeka | 0 | $5,000 | 120 | |
| Feeding Lasting Recovery Initiave | Shawnee, KS | 2 | $5,800 | 87 | |
| Finney County Food Summit | Garden City | 11 | $5,000 | 300 | |
| Flint Hills Food Recovery | Manhattan | 20 | $10,000 | 0 | |
| Food and Hunger Initiatives | Hays | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Garden Stewardship at Boulevard Lofts Gardens | Kansas City | 3 | $978 | 76 | |
| Generations Cook Together – Intergenerational Cooking & Storytelling | Lawrence | 2 | $5,000 | 200 | |
| Groundwork for Electronic Locker Produce Distribution | Johnson County | 5 | $5,000 | 50 | |
| Grow Together- ICT Treehugger Expansion | Wichita | 13 | $18,500 | 650 | |
| Harvest to Home | Riley County | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Here is Food: How Do I Bring It Home? | Wichita | 3 | $5,000 | 4,580 | |
| Hispanic/Latino Food With Dignity Project | Dodge City | 4 | $1,000 | 100 | |
| Hunger Free Crawford County | Pittsburg | 4 | $5,000 | 40 | |
| Hunger Prevention | Kansas City | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Improving Rural Food Insecurity Stabilization through Community Hospital Support | Mitchell County | 4 | $5,000 | 12 | |
| Johnson County Food Pantry Workshop | Johnson County | 27 | $5,000 | 64 | |
| Kid's Can Cook | Altoona | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Kids Feeding Kids Kansas Expansion | Kansas City | 1 | $5,000 | 300 | |
| Leveraging AI for Food System Data Acquisition and Inquiry | Wichita | 2 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Little Free Food Pantry | Dodge City, although support for the project has extended throughout Ford County and nearby cities. | 10 | $5,000 | 1,440 | |
| Local, fresh food to feed the homeless | Salina | 6 | $8,700 | 850 | |
| Meals in Motion | Derby School District which includes Wichita City limits | 5 | $5,000 | 210 | |
| Meet (and EAT with) Me At The Library | Miami County | 3 | $5,000 | 45 | |
| Multiplying Fishes and Loaves | Fredonia | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Nado Hunger Free | Coffeyville | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Neodesha Food as Medicine Pilot + Community Access Bridge | Wilson | 2 | $5,000 | 30 | |
| Nice to "Meet" You! | Abilene | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Nourish & Recover – Wichita | Wichita | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Nourish and Navigate | Emporia | 4 | $5,000 | 676 | |
| Nourish to Flourish: Food Access & Empowerment at Sue’s Safe Haven | Kansas City | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Nourish To Heal – Connecting Seniors To Care | Barton County | 1 | $5,000 | 70 | |
| Nourish Together | Wichita | 0 | $5,000 | 1,100 | |
| Nourishing Hope: Building Stability Through Food and Support | Reno County | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| NW Kansas Healthy Food for All | Sheridan | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Ogden Community Food Forest | Ogden | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Pantry Client Choice Technology Implementation Project | Wichita | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Pasture to Pantry: Chase County Beef Feeding Local Families | Chase County | 1 | $5,000 | 300 | |
| Prairie Rose Community Garden | Wichita | 2 | $5,000 | 117 | |
| Produce Preservation Project | Lawrence | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Refugee Giving Groves | Kansas City | 8 | $1,000 | 45 | |
| Resource Navigation | Harvey County | 3 | $5,000 | 120 | |
| Reto de 3 Meses ( 3 month challenge) | Wichita | 4 | $5,000 | 127 | |
| RISE Community Garden | 67214 | 0 | $0 | 0 | |
| SBHC Healthy Eating, Healthy Learning | Haysville | 2 | $5,000 | 80 | |
| School Meal Access and Debt Prevention Initiative | Rose Hill | 2 | $5,000 | 350 | |
| SCK Health Hunger Free Project - Hospital Gardens | Arkansas City | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Stafford County Locally Sourcing Assessment | Stafford County, KS | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Strategic Student Engagement to Address Food Insecurity through Access to SNAP and WIC Programs | Topeka | 2 | $5,000 | 1,178 | |
| Su Conexión (Your Connection) | Garden City | 1 | $5,000 | 6,400 | |
| Thursday Night Grab ‘n Go Meals | Winfield | 2 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| UPP Partners with Johnson County to Improve Nutrition in 66061 | Johnson County | 1 | $1,200 | 1,000 | |
| Veggie Voyage: Discover Cook and Savor | Coffeyville | 0 | $5,000 | 0 | |
| Voices at the Table: A Senior-Led Food Security Initiative | Kansas City | 1 | $5,000 | 250 | |
| WAU Food Security Program | Sedgwick, Wichita, | 5 | $5,000 | 105 | |
| WTT'S Feeding My Neighbor Project | Wichita | 1 | $5,000 | 75 |