In the late 1960s, John van Hengel, a retired businessman in Phoenix, Arizona started volunteering at a nearby soup kitchen.  He actively solicited donations for the kitchen, and found that he had more food than he could distribute at this one location.  He eventually began soliciting unwanted food from grocery stores, local gardens and more, creating the St. Mary’s Food Bank, which was the nation’s first food bank.

Then, in 2001, America’s Second Harvest merged with Foodchain, which was, at the time, the nation’s largest food-rescue organization.  In September of 2008, they changed their name to Feeding America.  Their goal, to this day, is to provide food to Americans who are living with hunger, no matter where in the country they live.

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