Food Bankers from 38 Countries Touch Down in Texas

Last month, food bank leaders from 38 countries joined the 10^th Annual H-E-B/GFN Food Bank Leadership Institute. Since 2006, the GFN Institute has been the premiere training event for those leading food banking operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, and the Middle East.

Here are three reasons why our 10^th event was the best Institute yet:

1. Food bankers from six continents attended
   • • More countries were represented this year than ever before, with food bankers coming from six continents. Not only were more than half of the attendees joining for the first time, GFN welcomed first-time participants from Angola, Botswana, the Czech Republic, Spain, Sudan, and Ukraine.
2. Sessions explored best practices in nutrition, board governance, food sourcing, and measuring impact
   • • In addition to the Institute’s usual offerings in operations, the fundamentals of food banking, and fundraising, the 2016 Institute included expanded offerings on food quality, building effective boards, exploring virtual food banking, and data collection.
3. GFN e-Learning was unveiled

• • • Attendees were treated to a sneak peek of GFN e-Learning, GFN’s new online platform developed in partnership with the Macquarie Group Foundation. GFN e-Learning allows food bank staff from any part of the world the ability to participate in webinars and access training material, presentations, and tool kits any time.

The 2016 FBLI was made possible due to the generous support of Flagship Sponsors H-E-B and General Mills; Leadership Sponsors Kellogg Company Fund and Ryan Foundation; Sustaining Sponsors Cargill and The DLA Piper Foundation; and Next Generation Sponsors Bank of America Foundation, Griffith Foods, and Ingredion. A special thanks goes out to Houston Food Bank for hosting FBLI.