While food insecurity is rapidly rising, the world is expected to waste 2.1 million tons of food annually by 2030, according to Yale research. In the United States alone, $408 billion was spent on food in 2021 that was never eaten. That's nearly a quarter of US food going to waste instead of to those who need it. On Tuesday, July 12, 2022, Mid...
One of many volunteer positions at Midwest Food Bank is the role of Advisory Board members. These people share their expertise and time to help shape and direct the local MFB location they serve. Midwest Food Bank Morton welcomes four new advisory board members - Sue Neihouser, Justin Pflederer, Javier Salazar, and Mary Staple. Their comm...
Midwest Food Bank donors are not only generous but creative. They come up with various ways to raise money and awareness for MFB. Tony Escobar, a representative of Thrivent, has a history of supporting organizations that provide food to people in need, and he looks for ways to get that done. He recently hosted a French cooking ...
Tender Mercies meals are designed by dieticians to be more than a rice and beans meal. There is nutrition in every bag. Every serving of Tender Mercies has: • The calcium of one glass of milk• The iron of two and a half cups of spinach.• The potassium of two bananas.• The protein of 3 ounces of fish. With such a nutritious product, MFB wondere...
When people think about donating to Midwest Food Bank, they often think of the three Cs: Cash, Check, Credit card. While these three are very common, there are many ways to make a contribution to MFB. We understand our donors appreciate the opportunity to give in a variety of ways. To make it easy for donors, MFB has assembled instructions and insi...
We've all felt the pinch of rising food and gas prices. But for people who fall into the category of "food insecure," those prices create a budget where the math can't add up. It's not just a hunch that prices are rising. The Consumer Price Index shows an 8.8% increase in food prices in March 2022, the most significant 12-month advance since May 19...
There's a big machine in the Morton warehouse of Midwest Food Bank that produces nutritious meals - 10 million servings since 2013, to be exact. But it's the people around the machine that make it all happen. The machine packages Tender Mercies - a low-cost (20 cents per serving) and highly nutritious meal that includes rice, beans, protein, season...
The numbers say Midwest Food Bank gave about $430 million worth of food at no cost to about 2,100 food partners in the U.S. and around the world in 2021. That $430 million number represents the food those food partners receive from MFB - at no cost. That's a big deal as it allows them to use their money in other areas of their ministries - like fue...
School is out for summer, and kids will be at the swimming pool, ball diamond, riding bikes. And volunteering at Midwest Food Bank. Yep, kids love to spend their time volunteering, and MFB has many tasks that are just right for kids. Here is what a few of the younger volunteers at the Morton location have to say about service. "It makes me feel goo...
Three organizations are influential in supporting Midwest Food Bank - the Caterpillar Foundation, GROWMARK, and State Farm. All three are top supporters of MFB operations in Illinois and beyond. Over the past year, all three have supported MFB in the form of grants - $56,000 from the Caterpillar Foundation, $50,000 from GROWMARK, and $150,000 from ...
Podcasts are here to stay, and they have exploded in popularity. Consider this: there are about 4.5 million podcasts registered globally, and 57% of people in the US have listened to at least one podcast (according to thepodcasthost.com). Because podcasts are easily accessible and allow listeners to zero in on content that interests them whene...
Knowing about something and experiencing it firsthand are two different things. A community health course at Bradley University takes book knowledge to a real-life experience through a poverty simulation exercise. The class also connects the dots for students as they learn how food pantries and food banks work together and how those resources can h...
During the last ten years, Brittany Parker and her husband have started a family and put down some roots. In 2020, when the youngest of her four children went to kindergarten, she decided it was time to start giving back to her community. "I wanted to contribute to the community and found Midwest Food Bank's mission to be authentic and genuine...
The numbers are in for 2021, and it was a year of blessings. Midwest Food Bank spent $14 million and distributed $430 million worth of food. Put another way, for every dollar donated to MFB, $31 worth of food was given to those in need. MFB serves nearly 2,100 nonprofit partner agencies. Generous donors and dedicated volunteers make those numbers p...
Midwest Food Bank has again received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the nation's top charity evaluator. MFB has received this recognition every year since 2011. Only 3% of charities receive a four-star rating for ten consecutive years. The rating is based on MFB's demonstration of robust financial health and its commitment to accountabi...
The operations of Midwest Food Bank Morton are different than other MFB divisions as it serves as the packaging and logistics warehouse for all of Midwest Food Bank. By being the hub for coordinating and managing certain operations, MFB Morton creates efficiencies for the entire organization. An example of this synergy is the MFB Tender Mercies pro...
At many Midwest Food Bank locations, volunteers serve from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Their words describe their time of missionary calling: "As missionaries, we leave our homes for 18-24 months and go wherever we're called. We spend our time serving others and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people ...
Brandon Lipps has joined the Midwest Food Bank National Board of Directors. His vast experience in organizational leadership aligns with the mission of MFB. Brandon grew up in the small town of Woodson, TX. He received a B.S. in agricultural economics and a law degree from Texas Tech University. His wide array of experience includes practicing law,...
The images of a natural disaster show hard-to-believe scenes - flooding up to a roof-top, a home destroyed but books still lined on a shelf, charred trees with a fire approaching an urban area, rain and high winds bending trees over. These are familiar sights following floods, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes. In the aftermath, there are people who...
Building relationships and partnerships extend to all aspects of Midwest Food Bank, including the behind-the-scenes vendors. One of our partnerships is the online giving platform iDonate. "It's evident that iDonate is consistent with the MFB culture," says Jada Hoerr, MFB Chief Resource Officer. "We are a growing organization, and as iDonate c...
