St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance: World's First Food Bank!
John van Hengel – The man who changed the way the world looks at hunger
In his forties, in 1965, van Hengel started volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul, collecting donations for the community dining room. After learning that grocery stores disposed of food that was, either, nearing expiration or had small tears or dents in the packaging, van Hengel began persuading store managers to donate this “edible, but unsalable” food to St. Vincent de Paul. Soon, van Hengel was receiving more food than the one dining room could use.
Van Hengel approached St. Mary’s Basilica with his idea of creating a central location at which social service agencies could get the food they needed for their clients at no cost. The idea was a food “bank,” where people and companies who had food could make a “deposit” through donations and then the agencies would make “withdrawals” of the food they needed. This enabled agencies to free up their time and budgets required for food and focus more on their clients.
In its first year, 1967, St. Mary’s Food Bank (named after the church that helped van Hengel) collected and distributed more than 250,000 pounds of food to 36 local agencies with only van Hengel and a few volunteers. Inspired by van Hengel’s idea, other cities began to open up their own food banks, with van Hengel serving as a consultant to many of them.
While van Hengel may have created the concept of food banking, he was aided immeasurably by the business acumen of Alan Merrett. Merrett, who had a food industry background as an executive with A. J. Bayless Markets, greatly expanded the Food Bank’s food resourcing network. He served as the Food Bank’s first Board President and as Executive Director in the 1990’s. Anticipating the increased demand on the Food Bank’s services, Merrett led the effort that culminated on the move to its current location, at Thomas Rd. and 31st Ave.
In 1976, van Hengel left St. Mary’s Food Bank to establish Second Harvest, an organization that would serve a consulting purpose to others interested in starting a food bank. Today, now called America’s Second Harvest, the organization is comprised of a network of more than 200 food banks and is the largest domestic hunger relief organization in the country.
It was inevitable that the concept of food banking would catch on in other countries. With requests from all over the world, van Hengel started Food Banking, Inc. in 1986, again to serve as a consultant. In 1991, the organization changed its name to Food Banking Services. John received e-mails and letters from Rwanda, Croatia, Mexico and many others. He has helped establish food banks throughout Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and Australia.
Without van Hengel's food banking concept imagine all of the food that would have been wasted and all the people who would have gone hungry. with van Hengel's vision, communities all over the globe are able to help. Today, St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance distributes food to more than 700 agency partner locations throughout Arizona; serving 13 of the states 15 counties. It is the second largest food bank in the nation. Everyday, the Food Bank works to meet the increasing demand of an ever-growing population - because no one should go hungry.
For the most recent financial distribution information, visit the financial information page.
There are many great people who have changed the way the world looks at its issues – Mother Theresa changed the way we looked at third world poverty, Martin Luther King Jr. changed the way we looked at racism and segregation, the Dalai Lama changed the way we looked at human rights. Among these great people the name, John van Hengel, should be included.
John van Hengel is the man who took one simple concept and changed the way the entire world looked at hunger and its alleviation. Nearly thirty-five years ago, the soon-to-be 80-year-old van Hengel started the world’s first food bank in Phoenix, Arizona. With money loaned from his church, St. Mary’s Basilica, and a building also loaned to him by the church, van Hengel would start an organization whose purpose would spread throughout the world.
On the morning of October 5, 2005 the food banking community suffered an incredible loss with the passing of John van Hengel, our founder, mentor and friend. John founded St Mary's Food Bank in 1967 and went out to create America's Second Harvest, the nation's food bank network. He helped start food banks all over the country and in the past fifteen years he took his efforts internationally. John has been recognized as the "Father of Food Banking".
