Midwest Food Bank Georgia

Midwest Food Bank was founded in 2003 by David Keiser and his family in Bloomington, Illinois, in response to the growing needs of local food pantries with empty shelves. What began as a small operation in a family barn has grown into a national nonprofit with ten U.S. locations and two international sites in Haiti and Nairobi, Kenya. Following the organization’s disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Midwest Food Bank began expanding, including the establishment of the Georgia division in 2011 to better serve the disaster-prone Southeastern United States.

Midwest Food Bank Georgia plays a vital dual role: providing ongoing hunger relief and responding rapidly to natural disasters in partnership with the Salvation Army. We operate year-round with a small staff and the support of more than 5,500 volunteers annually. Together, we distribute rescued food—entirely free of charge—to over 230 nonprofit agency partners serving more than 50 counties across Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.

Our work addresses two critical issues: the staggering amount of food waste in the U.S. and persistent food insecurity. By partnering with manufacturers, distributors, and grocers, we recover food that is excess, mislabeled, or cosmetically flawed but still safe and nutritious. Volunteers sort, inventory, and package the food for distribution. In 2024, MFB Georgia distributed over $30 million in food at zero cost to our agency partners.