Hello Janice, I am not sure how foodbanks work in your part of the world. I volunteer for our foodband in regional, Western Australia. In WA the foodbank gets sent what ever is currently in at the central distribution depot. They can request items, however what they get is only what donations the central foodbank receive. Now I am sure the formula manufacturers would *love* to donate. In practice when the goods arrive at the regional foodbank centres it is placed on shelves and the various agencies then select what they want then they go back to their church or wherever and bundle up boxes of food products which they then give to the needy they are in contact with. The biggest problem is the people who select the food from the foodbank do not always know who the end customer is. They may have an idea that one of the customers has a baby and in a well meaning action include a can of formula because *it is there* on the foodbank shelves, just in case it is needed. Another concern is that sometimes food stuffs at the foodbank are past there use-by date. Now this may not be a problem for a packet of rice or flour but old infant formula is a problem. Unfortunately, as the food banks rely mostly on donations for their food stuffs much of what gets donated is non-essentials like biscuits, chocolate bars and soft drinks (the manufacturers of these products, like the formula companies are very *generous*) rather than basic food stuffs. Sorry Janice I raised more questions than given answers. Is is possible to request good, healthy food stuffs from the foodbank for families with babies/children so you can feed the mum who feeds the baby? and then the agencies only buy in infant formula, when really necessary and purchase it from a local supermarket, still in the use by date, at cost price? Many supermarkets here donate damaged stock (tins that are dropped etc) to the foodbank and if approached may be willing to do this occasionally. Susan Susan Day IBCLC Breastfeeding counsellor Kalgoorlie-Boulder group of Australian Breastfeeding Association Mother to 5 breastfed daughters Breastfeeding...The first choice for a healthy, sustainable future. *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html