As the Great Plains Food Bank looks toward the future and to a rapidly changing landscape in its work to end hunger, the organization recently named Melissa Sobolik as its new president.

Sobolik will serve alongside long-time Chief Executive Officer Steve Sellent, splitting her time between external relations of the organization and continuing to lead the efforts of Ending Hunger 2.0, where she was serving as director. Sellent will continue to oversee internal functions and the overall strategic direction and work of the organization.

Read more about this exciting announcement here.

The Bayer Fund has made another substantial commitment to the fight to end hunger by awarding a $10,000 grant to the Great Plains Food Bank. The gift is enough to provide 30,000 meals to help feed hungry children, seniors and families across North Dakota and western Minnesota.

Additionally, the Great Plains Food Bank was awarded generous donations from: Darden Foundation ($7,000); North Dakota AFL-CIO ($5,500); Network Center, Inc. ($2,055); and Enterprise Holdings Foundation ($1,000).

The Great Plains Food Bank has joined forces with a number of Minnesota-based hunger-relief organizations to oppose tightening of eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that could strip benefits of the program from more than 3 million people nationwide.

Released July 23, in-part the statement read : "Hunger-relief leaders in the community, including  Channel One ,  Great Plains Food Bank ,  Hunger Solutions ,  The Food Group  and  Second Harvest Heartland believe changes to SNAP disproportionately impact low-income working families, older Americans, people with disabilities and children, who could lose direct access to free school meals."

Read the full statement here.