Midwest Food Bank Pennsylvania

In 2003, Illinois farmer David Kieser realized that American farmers grew and produced more than enough food for everyone, yet there were so many people in need. As such, the issue of food insecurity had more to do with logistics and access vs. supply. So he turned his barn into a food bank to make resources more readily available to rural ministries helping local people. Thinking his concept had the potential to be expanded throughout the Midwest, he chose the name Midwest Food Bank as a God sized dream. Twenty years later, MFB rescues and distributes over $400 million of food via 2000+ nonprofit partners from 10 locations throughout the US and in Haiti and Africa. Midwest Food Bank PA opened late 2020, providing food, free of charge, to just 30 nonprofit partners in Central PA. We are now serving more than 200 partners throughout PA, NJ and NY, including 10 in Lancaster County who regularly visit our warehouse in Middletown to obtain resources to meet needs of people in Lancaster County. As an independent, faith-based food bank, we do not accept funds that would compromise our mission or the mission of our nonprofit partners and we provide all food free of charge to our partners so they have resources to meet increasing needs. Since the US wastes 40% of our food supply annually, the majority of food we provide is “rescued” via our local and national network of farmers, manufacturers and warehouses, going to people in need vs. a landfill.

Our goal is to turn every $1 into $30 of food.

Examples of how your gift can make a difference:

• $1,143 can provide the rescue and transportation costs of a truckload of good food (avg. 22,000 lbs. of food valued at $90,700) that would otherwise be destined for the landfill.
• $68 can provide a weekend “Hope Pack” of food for a child for the entire school year. That’s just $1.79 per pack per child per weekend.