By Maggie Young, Staff Writer

Published in print Apr. 1, 2015

Ending hunger by 2020 may seem like an impossible feat, but that is exactly what Robert Horton, president and founder of i-Care Alliance, plans to accomplish.

About a year ago, Horton watched Clyde Fitzgerald of Second Harvest Food Bank on TV. At the time the food bank— which according to its website is “the premier hunger relief organization in its 18 county service area”— was completely empty.

Appalled by the idea that a food bank could run out of food, Horton became motivated to involve himself in the efforts to eliminate hunger in North Carolina.

After speaking with Fitzgerald and doing months of research, Horton realized that one of the main contributors to hunger in North Carolinian is food deserts. He explored the surrounding areas and realized that there were certain regions where grocery stores were located miles from the center of the community.

His research and exploration fueled his enthusiasm to find a solution for food deserts and hunger in America.

18 months later, he is now the president and CEO of i-Care Foundation USA.

The Foundation has three primary goals and three secondary goals.

The primary goals are to end hunger by 2020, eliminate all food deserts in America and provide continuous funding for “Tools for Schools” and “Tools for Teachers” programs in every community across the US.

The secondary missions are to provide food during disaster situations, supply food for families who cannot afford to feed their children during summer vacation and to abolish child slavery.

When he started, Horton provided meals to corporate events and donated the proceeds to local food banks.

When given the suggestion to start up his own food delivery business, Horton replied that it “never crossed [his] mind.” Once the idea was planted, however, Horton took it “to the extreme.”

After setting up working relationships with suppliers, buyers and vendors, he now has the largest agriculture market since 1962.

He is working directly with farmers across North Carolina to eliminate middleman mark-ups on packaging and distribution of food products.

One of the Alliance’s mottos is “Till to Table”— the food Horton sells comes directly from local farmers. This not only stimulates local farming communities, but it also increases a product’s shelf life.

These are not the only benefits The Alliance has in mind

According to the Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach, about 12 percent of food grown in North Carolina ends up in a landfill.

Horton aims to provide a “timely outlet both for institutional and consumer food” so as to drastically reduce that percentage of waste. He also plans to donate “10 percent of what [they] get out of the fields back to the food banks.”

This is where much of his community growth plans come from. Horton told the Greensboro City Council during their last meeting that “80 cents of every dollar we make is going to come back into the community.”

With that money, the plan is to sustain the Feeding America food banks in North Carolina, and Urban Ministries and Open Door Ministries in High Point.

Although the plans have been set and the goals have been placed, the business is just beginning to get off its feet.

After being in business for 18 months, Horton is beginning to start the progress he set out to make. 

Over the course of the last year and a half, much of the progress has been logistical—obtaining business licensures and gaining understanding of governmental barriers regarding the mobile delivery industry.

However, Horton is now beginning his evolution in Greensboro.

Horton met with Second Harvest Food Bank on Monday and hopes to solidify two major initiatives in Guildford County for the growth of the program over the next eight months—one this summer and one in the fall.

As he expands his business across the United States, Horton estimates that he will need around 25,000 employees to keep things running smoothly across the country.

Horton explained that the rate and quality of expansion depends on the employees and those he hires during the early stages of the business.

Whereas many similar projects are run on a volunteer-based system, Horton plans to treat his program as a standard business so as to maintain order and sustainability.

As the business expands, Horton hopes to promote many of his early employees into management positions and the start-up wage he expects to provide is around $12 an hour with benefits.

Regarding his unique, innovated business, Horton told The Carolinian that he is excited “about the fact that we now have everybody playing a role.”

He noted that it does not matter how much or how little money one has; everyone has a chance to take part in the betterment of their communities and the care of their neighbors.