St. Mary's Food Bank is where the entire food bank model began. Founded in Phoenix in 1967 by John van Hengel, it was the world's first food bank, and van Hengel went on to help create the national network that became Feeding America. Today St. Mary's serves 13 of Arizona's 15 counties across 76,000 square miles, distributing enough food for more than 250,000 meals every day. Milt Liu serves as President and CEO. It holds a four-star Charity Navigator rating and has ranked among America's top 100 charities.
St. Mary's sources food at very large scale and distributes it across most of Arizona through partner agencies and its own distributions, adding up to enough food for more than 250,000 meals a day. Covering 13 of the state's 15 counties across 76,000 square miles took decades of infrastructure, including warehouses and a logistics operation built for the distances of the desert Southwest. It also runs a community kitchen and job-training program.
Milt Liu serves as President and CEO of St. Mary's Food Bank, leading the organization that invented the food bank model. Under his leadership St. Mary's holds a four-star Charity Navigator rating, the highest the rater gives, and has been named to Forbes' list of America's top 100 charities.
The food bank model started here. In 1967, John van Hengel, a volunteer at a Phoenix soup kitchen, began collecting surplus food from grocers and gardens and storing it in a warehouse where charities could draw on it, the first time anyone had organized hunger relief this way. He called it a food bank. The idea spread across the United States and then the world, and van Hengel went on to help found the national organization that became Feeding America. Every food bank profiled on this site traces back to what started at St. Mary's.
St. Mary's covers 13 of Arizona's 15 counties, from metropolitan Phoenix out across a vast rural expanse that includes some of the most isolated communities in the country. On the Navajo Nation, for example, the nearest grocery store can be 30 or more miles away. That geography makes the food bank's logistics a lifeline for places with almost no other food access.
Yes. St. Mary's Food Bank is a registered 501(c)(3) and a Feeding America member with a four-star Charity Navigator rating, the highest available, and a place on Forbes' top-charities list. As one of the largest food banks in the world, its scale gives donations enormous reach.
Donations and volunteer shifts run through stmarysfoodbank.org. Volunteers sort and pack food at the Phoenix warehouses, and cash gifts go furthest because of the food bank's scale and purchasing power.
St. Mary's is the dominant hunger-relief organization in Arizona and a landmark in the history of charity worldwide. It works alongside the Salvation Army's Arizona operations and other groups on the broader safety net. For anyone in Arizona, St. Mary's is the central food bank to support.
Enough food for 250,000+ meals a day across most of Arizona.
Agencies across 13 of 15 counties receive food.
A culinary job-training program that addresses a cause of hunger.
Distribution to isolated communities, including the Navajo Nation.
Sources: St. Mary's Food Bank website (stmarysfoodbank.org), Charity Navigator and ProPublica (EIN 23-7353532), and Wikipedia and historical records on John van Hengel and the founding of the food bank model. We are not affiliated with St. Mary's Food Bank and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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