How the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri operates daily

About 1 in 5 Missourians doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from, and the need continues to grow.

The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri is working to help feed the people in need and even change those numbers for the better.

The purpose is simple, but the process is more complicated.

“It is a big operation, our budget is nearly $5 million for expenses, and therefore we need about $5 million in revenue,” said Associate Director Bobbie Kincaide.

It takes 54 full time employees, 44,000 volunteers, and a fleet of 22 different vehicles, semi trucks, trailers, trucks, and mobile pantries to run the operation.

“It takes a lot for the cost of those vehicles to be on the road, to go throughout our service area.

“We have huge pallets that show up every day and our drivers are going to pick things up and bring things here, it’s just a nonstop movement to get food here and help people in the community,” said Julie Dorn, Director of Development.

Those trucks deliver food to nearly 140 partner agencies throughout Mid-Missouri where people can go for a meal.

“If you could think of the food bank being like a bank, and our partner agencies being like the ATM,” said Dorn.

The 65,000 square foot bank is full of food, and it turns over an average of 26 times in just a year.

All of the pallets in the warehouse are given to the bank by different organizations around the country.

“Our goal this year is to distribute 30 million pounds of food, which I know we will easily do,” said Dorn.

This will help feed more than 114,000 people in 32 counties in Mid-Missouri.

“Anytime we have a food drive or fund drive, whatever community we’re in at the time, that’s where the food stays, right in the community where it’s coming from,” said Dorn.

“We do have generous donors, about 43-44% of our contributions come from donations.”

Some of that is from members of the community and large companies, including from Kraft Foods and Walmart.

Other money comes from fundraising, grants, and government subsidies.