Harvest for Hunger
It all started with a man named John Van Hengel. In 1967, John volunteered in the soup kitchen of a Catholic church in Phoenix. He bought an old milk delivery truck and used it to gather citrus fruit gleaned from farmer’s fields which he delivered to the soup kitchen and homeless missions. When he realized the volume of food that was being thrown away by farmers and grocery stores, his goal was to create a more efficient method to distribute food. So, with a $3,000 donation from St. Mary’s church and a donated building – food banking was started.
