New challenges for hunger and poverty: A food bank case study

After being first implemented in the USA in the 1960s and later adapted to Europe in France in the 1980s, the first Food Bank in Spain was founded in Barcelona in 1987. The Fundació Benèfica Banc dels Aliments or, more common, Barcelona Food Bank (BFB) first mission was to cover very specific emergencies, providing assistance to non-profit organizations that supplied food as a sort of charity. However, since then, Spanish society and its challenges have changed. The economic crisis in Spain has been long and sustained. This situation makes necessary an evaluation of the current structure and management of the BFB, can it successfully adapt to the current economic situation and address new challenges? In order to answer this question, this paper explains the main changes the BFB performance has experienced and how its role in society has varied from the beginning of the economic crisis. Based on in-depth interviews with the food bank volunteers and workers and the reviewing of BFB annual reports, we present the BFB’s current situation and determine the main challenges it is facing now and will likely face in the near future