Commemorating 50 Years!

Commemorating 50 Years!
Meredith Knopp

Summer is here, which means barbeques, picnics, warm summer nights, family gatherings, and maybe some time for relaxing. While we love all these events at the St. Louis Area Foodbank, this July is a bit different for us, and one that only comes around once in a lifetime.

This year, on July 15^th, the St. Louis Area Foodbank will commemorate 50 YEARS of serving and supporting the bi-state region. We are choosing our words and how we honor this milestone strategically, with a focus on both the past and the Foodbank of the Future.

Fifty years is a long time for a business, organization, or non-profit to be around. It takes energy, resilience, leadership, and the support of those around you to make it this milestone. For the St. Louis Area Foodbank, our story began with a vision to support our community, and to provide food to help address a trend of babies being born too early, and with lower birth weights than usual. In the beginning, Food Crisis Network (the Foodbank’s original name) had about $680 cash on hand, occupied a loaned office and food storage space, and had enough money in pledges to tide it over for four or five months. Our community’s commitment, focus, and collaboration led to the hiring of our first CEO, Harlow Bill Donovan, who served from 1975-1986. He launched our organization as an official 501c3 nonprofit organization, and was one of the founding members of Second Harvest, a group of food banks across the country formed by John Van Hengel, that eventually became known as Feeding America.

As I think about our organization and our future, the first and perhaps most important action to take is to pause, reflect, and express unwavering gratitude to those who have been part of our first 50 years.

We are grateful for the leaders and the visionaries who have led the St. Louis Area Foodbank over the years, including Bill Donovan, John Arnold, Robert Schreiber, and Frank Finnegan, from 1975-2018. They created a solid foundation and the ability for us to continue to grow and evolve. They poured their hearts into building an organization that would not just change lives but save them. They set us on a path to truly make a difference in the lives of families across the 26 counties that we serve, and it is because of their determination that we can evolve and innovate to serve the ever-changing needs of our community today.

We are grateful for our supporters. The businesses (both large and small), the family and corporate foundations, the organizations, and the thousands of individuals, many of whom give generously year after year, who bless us with the financial means to do this work. They trust in us to utilize and maximize these precious financial resources to serve those who need us. Those who are living in poverty, those who need short-term help because of an accident, illness, or job loss, those who need help for the first time due to a global pandemic, or those whose lives are forever changed in minutes due to a tornado. The generosity of our community is inspiring, and we are so grateful that you trust us with your donations. We work hard to ensure that even now, 50 years later, we can proudly still show that over 96 cents of every dollar goes directly to supporting our community. We are beyond grateful.

We are grateful for our volunteers. Our organization can serve and support our community, distributing tens of millions of pounds of food across 26 counties because of our amazing volunteers. Last year, volunteers spent 78,861 HOURS supporting our mission,both at our headquarters in Bridgeton and out in the community. Words cannot express our gratitude that they choose to give their time in service with our team members to strengthen our community.  We thank our volunteers from the bottom of our hearts.

We are grateful for our team. The individuals who have called the Foodbank home, and those who call it home today, are amazing. They have such a passion for our organization, our mission, and our community. Seeing this group grow and evolve over the years and having a front-row seat to watch the group of leaders we now have in action is nothing short of inspiring.  I am more confident than ever before that the Foodbank of the future is going to be EPIC.

So how DOES an organization with such a robust past commemorate 50 years? I’m so glad you asked (and are still reading – this one is a bit longer, but so worth it!)

We will commemorate 50 years in a few ways, but all of them will focus on our community, and launching the Foodbank of the future. Hopefully, many of you have seen the spotlight on the St. Louis Area Foodbank from our friends and partners at First Alert 4 over the past few weeks on Wednesday nights. If you missed any of these wonderful segments that we are educating and inspiring people to join us on our journey for the next 50 years of impact, you can watch (or rewatch!) them here:

https://www.firstalert4.com/2025/07/02/food-move-brings-needed-supplies-community/

https://www.firstalert4.com/2025/06/18/how-st-louis-area-foodbank-meets-needs-local-families/

https://www.firstalert4.com/2025/06/25/how-an-illinois-farm-helps-st-louis-area-foodbank/

On our 50^th anniversary, July 15, 2025, we will spend the day focusing on our community, the ways we have served, and how we will serve our community in the future. We will launch our “50 ways in 50 days” campaign on social media to engage everyone in our community. We ask everyone to follow us on social media via Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram to learn more and see how many challenges YOU can complete over 50 days. Your kindness and impact will make a difference in the lives of families right here in our community (and yes, there are activities for adults and kiddos alike!)

There is a special challenge on July 15^th encouraging donations of $50 to commemorate 50 years of service as well. Whether a one-time donation of $50, or making this a monthly donation this year, we appreciate you, and you can learn more about this challenge at: https://stlfoodbank.org/50years/

We will commemorate 50 years of service with two large-scale distributions in August where we will provide food to feed 500 families for a month at each location. The Foodbank has never been able to do this before, and we need your help to make this possible! To join us in sponsoring these EPIC events, visit https://stlfoodbank.org/50years/.

These distributions for our community will lead into September, which is Hunger Action Month! We are going all out this year, from special events with our favorite sports teams, to a 9/11 day of service meal packing event at the Chaifetz Arena, and many other special events around the bi-state region. All of this energy and impact will lead us into the holidays and our special partnership with our friends at Ameren, which will also include some additional surprises and opportunities to finish 2025 strong! Stay tuned for more details! (I can’t share everything in a blog)

Let me close by saying that serving as the fifth President and CEO of the St. Louis Area Foodbank since February of 2018 is truly something that has been and continues to be the greatest honor and privilege of my career. I am inspired and energized more than ever about our future, and all of the partnerships, technology, collaborations, programs, and innovations that we will roll out this year and in the future. Together, we will ensure that this incredible organization, this beacon of hope for our community, continues to grow, thrive, and evolve for the next 50 years.

Cheers to everyone who has made our first 50 years possible, and cheers to all of those who will help us transform our community over the next 50 years!