Food Distribution Storage and Site Improvement Program FAQ

There are two components to this program, eligible infrastructure and equipment purchases, as well as, reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution.  Each component has its set of eligibility requirements, found below:

Eligible infrastructure and equipment purchases: Applicants must be New Hampshire food pantries, kitchens, or other providers that are either registered as partner agencies of the New Hampshire Food Bank, registered with the Charitable Trusts Unit, or are owned or managed by a municipality within the State.

Reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution: Applicants must be a nonprofit New Hampshire food pantry, soup kitchen, or other provider registered as a partner agency of the New Hampshire Food Bank.

To apply for this program, please visit the program page on GOFERR’s website by clicking here. On that page, scroll down to and click on the “Apply Now” button.

You will need the contact and financial information relevant to your entity’s application, including appropriate documentation to be attached to the application.

For this program, that may include documents supporting:

• For infrastructure or equipment purchase reimbursement, individual invoice or receipt for each item/purchase;
• For increased cost of food distribution, documentation of March 2019 to February 2020 total pounds distributed and

March 2020 to February 2021 total pounds distributed.

See question five for additional information.

It is highly recommended that you do not wait until shortly before the application period closes to complete your application, as you will not be able to complete it once the deadline passes.

The two components of this program (eligible infrastructure and equipment purchases, as well as, reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution) have two separate buckets of funding.  

Eligible infrastructure and equipment purchases: Grants from this portion of the program will be awarded from a $2.2 million fund on a pro-rata basis up to a $25,000 cap.

Applications for eligible purchases must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. on December 8, 2021.

Reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution: Applicants for reimbursement for increased costs associated with food distribution will receive a pro-rata share of a $1 million fund.

Applications seeking reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. on December 8, 2021.

The amount eligible for reimbursement will be based on the increased cost of food distribution during the pandemic, which will be calculated the following way:

The increase in the total number of pounds of food distributed to the agency by the New Hampshire Food Bank from March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020, as compared to March 1, 2020, through February 28, 2021; and
The increased rate per-pound-of-food-distributed based on New Hampshire Food Bank rates per-pound-of-food-distributed on March 1, 2019, and March 1, 2020.

For example, if an entity received 1000 pounds of food in 2019 and 1000 pounds in 2020, and the rate per pound increased from 7 cents to 9 cents per pound, they would receive 2 cents per pound for the 1000 pounds. However, if the entity received 1500 pound in 2020, they would receive the 2 cents per pound on the first 1000 pounds, plus the full 9 cents on the increased 500 pounds.

NOTE: Awards will be provided as a pro rata share of the overall fund.

Reimbursement eligible expenses include: food distribution, storage, and site infrastructure to improve the preservation and storage of food or produce, including refrigerated and non-refrigerated vehicles and fixed site refrigerated and non-refrigerated storage facilities.

Applicants may not apply for any expense that they have already claimed in any other state or federal COVID-19 relief program, including but not limited to the Shelter Modification Program, the Non-Profit Emergency Relief Fund, or NH COVID Community Support Program, as well as, received reimbursement from another source.

The equipment or infrastructure must have been purchased between March 13, 2020, and the opening of the application period for this program. Lease payments made toward such equipment or infrastructure prior to the opening of the application period for this program are eligible, so long as the equipment lease was entered into on or after March 13, 2020.

Yes. See below for additional information about each part of the program and application.

For equipment or infrastructure purchases or the amount of lease payments made toward such equipment or infrastructure, you must upload documentation that shows that the equipment was purchased or leased between March 13, 2020, and the start of the program’s application period. Unpaid balances cannot be included.  

For reimbursement for the increased cost of food distribution, documentation of total pounds distributed for March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020, and March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, as well as documentation of the rate paid for each period.

No. This program is only for the reimbursement of expenses. Applicants must have already purchased or entered into a lease agreement for equipment or infrastructure being claimed.

For equipment or infrastructure purchases, New Hampshire food pantries, kitchens, or other providers that are either registered as partner agencies of the New Hampshire Food Bank, registered with the Charitable Trusts Unit, or are owned or managed by a municipality are eligible.

For the increased cost of food distribution, only nonprofit New Hampshire food pantries, soup kitchens, or other providers registered as a partner agency of the New Hampshire Food Bank within the State are eligible for this program.

You should not submit your application until you are certain it is complete and you have the correct documents ready to upload, as you will not be able to make changes after submission.  You can save your application and finish it later, if needed.  

However, if you realize that you made an error or omitted a document before the application period closes, you can submit a new application that contains the updated information.  

GOFERR will assume that the application filed last in time is the most complete and will only process the last in time application.  

The corrected application must contain all of the information that you want considered, even if it was otherwise correct in your earlier application, as GOFERR will not look to an earlier filed application for missing information.

GOFERR will not add documents to a submitted application or change answers that you have already submitted.

As a result of federally required deadlines for closing award determinations on CARES Act funded programs, appeals will not be possible in this program.

First, if you have already started an application, please check your email inbox for your login information provided as part of your initial application process.

In the event that you cannot find your login information or continue to have any difficulty, please contact info@goferr.nh.gov.  

Applicants will need to use an internet browser such as Microsoft Edge, Firefox, or Google Chrome to complete the application. Internet Explorer will not work properly with this application.

We strongly encourage that applications be finalized and submitted prior to the last day of the application period. If you require assistance submitting an application, please contact GOFERR at info@goferr.nh.gov.

There are several options. We recommend carefully reading the instructions regarding the supporting documentation provided as part of the application.

Only one document per upload is allowed and will be recognized by the system. We recommend if you have multiple documents to combine them into the appropriate number of documents as explained above.

Alternatively, if for some reason you do not have the appropriate software to combine PDFs this can be done by printing the documents and scanning them together as one document to pdf. Please also note that below the required document fields, there are “optional” document field(s) that provide the ability to upload up to three optional documents.

If you for some reason still encounter any issues, please contact info@goferr.nh.gov.