Across the country, families are feeling the strain of rising food costs, limited access to grocery stores, and gaps in assistance programs.
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While food banks and pantries work tirelessly, many people still fall through the cracks, especially in the days or weeks between paychecks, benefit cycles, or during government shutdowns.
What is the Neighborhood Food Circle Network?
The Neighborhood Food Circle Network was created to bridge those gaps right where people live. Each Food Circle is a local, resident-led group that helps neighbors share food, reduce waste, and strengthen community ties.
Instead of relying solely on large organizations or distant distribution systems, Food Circles empower neighborhoods to create small, self-sustaining networks of care.
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Through collaboration with existing nonprofits, schools, and local leaders, the Network provides the framework, resources, and guidance for neighborhoods to build their own food-sharing systems, from cupboards and coolers to organized community meals, garden harvest swaps, and peer-to-peer meal-sharing.
Every Food Circle becomes both a safety net and a gathering place, proving that the most effective solution to hunger can begin on your own street.
What is a Food Circle Cupboard?
Food Circle Cupboards are the anchors of local micro-networks of mutual aid. These are small outdoor, crowd-sourced, food-sharing spaces where neighbors can give and take food freely, like micro-food pantries.​
Each cupboard is built and maintained by local residents who want to ensure no one in their neighborhood goes hungry. Stocked with nonperishables, snacks, and sometimes even refrigerated items like milk or produce, these cupboards make it easy for anyone to contribute a few extra groceries or pick up what they need.
Every participating neighborhood gets its own private Food Circle page on our online platform, where organizers can post updates, share resources, track needs, and coordinate restocking or community events. These local Food Circle pages act as neighborhood hubs, connecting residents with one another.
​Through the platform, neighbors can see what’s needed most, offer rides or deliveries, promote events like potlucks or restock days, and even share local food-related news or recipes. It’s a space where communities can make sure everyone stays fed, supported, and connected, proving that when people organize at the neighborhood level, small actions can ripple into lasting change.
Where should Food Circles be organized?
Neighborhood Food Circles can thrive anywhere people care about their community, but they’re especially powerful in places where access to food or connection has become harder to find.
Urban neighborhoods with limited grocery options, rural towns far from food retailers, and suburban areas where rising costs leave gaps between paychecks can all benefit from having a local Food Circle. They work well in mixed-income communities where neighbors want to support one another quietly and respectfully, and in areas already rich with civic life, where schools, churches, and nonprofits can easily collaborate.
Whether it’s an apartment complex, a tight-knit block, or a small-town main street, a Food Circle turns proximity into partnership, transforming ordinary neighborhoods into networks of care.
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