1979 – God’s Pantry
In 1955, a concerned citizen named Mim Hunt became the founder of God’s Pantry Food Bank.
Hunt vowed to leave “the heartbreaking profession of social work” behind when, after serving as a child welfare worker in 1940’s New York City, she returned to her hometown of Lexington. She and her husband, Robert, opened “Mim’s,” a combination gift shop, antique gallery, and health food store. But after seeing poverty in Lexington that rivaled what she’d fought against in New York, she found herself unable to remain silent.
Mim began her work in Lexington by filling her station wagon with food, clothing, and bedding, and distributing it directly to individuals in need. God’s Pantry Food Bank in Lexington was born out of Hunt's work and remained mobile until the first pantry was opened in 1959.
In the late sixties, in Phoenix, a desperate mother who regularly rummaged through grocery store garbage bins to find food for her children, convinced John van Hengel, a retired businessman, to begin collecting the food discarded by grocery stores in a “food bank” for redistribution to the hungry. She suggested that there should be a place where, instead of being thrown out, discarded food could be stored for people to pick up—similar to the way “banks” store money for future use. With that, the concept of food banking was born. Van Hengel, who had been volunteering at a soup kitchen and trying to find food to serve the hungry, established St. Mary’s Food Bank. In its initial year, van Hengel and his team of volunteers distributed 275,000 pounds of food to people in need. Word of the food bank’s success quickly spread.
Since its founding, God's Pantry Food Bank in Lexington has grown in many ways. What started with one woman attempting to do what she could to address a need is now an organization serving 50 counties in Central and Eastern Kentucky through a number of programs with a dedicated staff committed to the mission of solving hunger.
In 1979, Woodland Christian Church joined the growing national effort to eradicate hunger in America. A network of 18 food banks had formed that year and the church’s house next door became the local distribution point for God’s Pantry - Crisis Food Center. Through the years, many small efforts grew into the large-scale hunger relief organization that God’s Pantry Food Bank is today.
As the number of food banks began to increase, van Hengel created a national organization for food banks and, in 1979, he established Second Harvest. In 2008, the network changed its name to Feeding America to better reflect the mission of the organization.
God’s Pantry is a member of Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks serving every county in the United States. As food insecurity rates hold steady at the highest levels ever, the Feeding America network feeds 46 million people, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. Today, Woodland’s contributions to God’s Pantry support that effort.
Mim Hunt devoted her life to helping others, and through our support of God's Pantry, we continue to honor her legacy. Her work is proof that one person, with every small action, can make a large impact.
Hunt vowed to leave “the heartbreaking profession of social work” behind when, after serving as a child welfare worker in 1940’s New York City, she returned to her hometown of Lexington. She and her husband, Robert, opened “Mim’s,” a combination gift shop, antique gallery, and health food store. But after seeing poverty in Lexington that rivaled what she’d fought against in New York, she found herself unable to remain silent.
Mim began her work in Lexington by filling her station wagon with food, clothing, and bedding, and distributing it directly to individuals in need. God’s Pantry Food Bank in Lexington was born out of Hunt's work and remained mobile until the first pantry was opened in 1959.
In the late sixties, in Phoenix, a desperate mother who regularly rummaged through grocery store garbage bins to find food for her children, convinced John van Hengel, a retired businessman, to begin collecting the food discarded by grocery stores in a “food bank” for redistribution to the hungry. She suggested that there should be a place where, instead of being thrown out, discarded food could be stored for people to pick up—similar to the way “banks” store money for future use. With that, the concept of food banking was born. Van Hengel, who had been volunteering at a soup kitchen and trying to find food to serve the hungry, established St. Mary’s Food Bank. In its initial year, van Hengel and his team of volunteers distributed 275,000 pounds of food to people in need. Word of the food bank’s success quickly spread.
Since its founding, God's Pantry Food Bank in Lexington has grown in many ways. What started with one woman attempting to do what she could to address a need is now an organization serving 50 counties in Central and Eastern Kentucky through a number of programs with a dedicated staff committed to the mission of solving hunger.
In 1979, Woodland Christian Church joined the growing national effort to eradicate hunger in America. A network of 18 food banks had formed that year and the church’s house next door became the local distribution point for God’s Pantry - Crisis Food Center. Through the years, many small efforts grew into the large-scale hunger relief organization that God’s Pantry Food Bank is today.
As the number of food banks began to increase, van Hengel created a national organization for food banks and, in 1979, he established Second Harvest. In 2008, the network changed its name to Feeding America to better reflect the mission of the organization.
God’s Pantry is a member of Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks serving every county in the United States. As food insecurity rates hold steady at the highest levels ever, the Feeding America network feeds 46 million people, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. Today, Woodland’s contributions to God’s Pantry support that effort.
Mim Hunt devoted her life to helping others, and through our support of God's Pantry, we continue to honor her legacy. Her work is proof that one person, with every small action, can make a large impact.
- https://www.godspantry.org/story/
- https://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/our-history