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Midwest Food Bank of Indiana on Friday announced a $9 million fundraising campaign to build a new, 50,000-square-foot warehouse in the Indianapolis area to help distribute food to food banks and other charities statewide.
The nonprofit group’s public phase of the “Under One Roof” campaign comes with most of its fundraising goal, $7 million, already secured. With matching funds pledged by the Lilly Endowment, the organization needs an additional $500,000 in donations to meet its goal.
Midwest Food Bank of Indiana said it currently distributes food out of two warehouses, which increases cost and is less efficient. The distributed food goes to after-school programs, senior centers, community centers, domestic violence shelters, homelessness services organizations and food pantries.
The faith-based food bank handles many semitrucks full of donated food from apples to pre-packaged items. The nonprofit expects to distribute $74 million in food this year, compared with $40 million in 2019.
Diara Nicholson, executive director of Midwest Food Bank of Indiana, said one warehouse as a hub streamlines operations for trucks arriving and for volunteers working.
“This will also allow us to have more reach into the community because we want to be able to give out food to more agencies,” she said. “We do have a waitlist.”
Midwest Food Bank of Indiana said about 1 million Hoosiers, including 1 in 5 children, lack regular access to enough nutritious food for normal growth and development or an active and healthy life. The group said it provides 24.5 million meals each year supported by 2,500 volunteers that food to more than 250 nonprofits, including Indianapolis-based Wheeler Mission, the Damien Center and the Julien Center.
Marcie Luhigo, Midwest Food Bank of Indiana’s development director, said the group is looking for a facility or property close to Interstate-465 that provides easy access for trucks and the group’s many volunteers. She said the new warehouse could either be an existing site or new construction.
The Jean and Bernas Downing Charitable Trust provided a lead gift of $4 million. Jean Ferris Downing, who died in 2002, was a longtime Eli Lilly and Co. researcher, and his wife, Bernas, who died in 2014, a Lilly research librarian.
Midwest Food Bank of Indiana said the gift from the Downing Charitable Trust helped inspire $1 million in pledges from churches, businesses and individuals. The Lilly Endowment gave $2 million and is matching the next $500,000 raised to complete the goal of $9 million.
Luhigo said the group counts on many small gifts and raised most of the money during the quiet phase of the campaign to make the goal more reachable.
“We’re getting $100 donations, community individuals who are going to go to our website and give us 50 bucks,” she said. “We wanted to be able to say, ‘Hey, our goal is really achievable.’”
Midwest Food Bank was founded in 2003 on the Kieser family farm in McLean County, Illinois. The group has 10 U.S. locations serving 25 states and two international locations, East Africa and Haiti.
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I volunteer at a pantry that receives food from Midwest. We continually see volume increases of clients in need year after year. We also receive less food from donors. I urge IBJ readers to assist Midwest Food Bank via monetary donations to meet their goal.