Starting with a staff of three, working in a small, rented portion of a warehouse, the organization soon grew to a five person staff operating out of a 90’ x 100’ donated warehouse.  In 1990, the Food Bank moved to its current location on Lapeer Road.  Three more expansions, including the addition of the Hunger Solution Center in a semi-adjacent facility and the Food Bank now has over 110,000 square feet of warehouse space and offices.

The Food Bank became an affiliated member of the United Way in 1985 and joined Feeding America in 1987.  These organizations further enabled the Food Bank to expand its service area and distribute food to those in need throughout 22 counties.  In 2002, Feeding America recognized the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan as the number one food bank in the nation with the Excellence in Food Banking Award.

With the addition of the Hunger Solution Center in 2015, the Food Bank tripled the amount of volunteer space available for sorting and boxing food products.  A state-of-the-art production kitchen with the capacity to prepare more than 3,000 meals per day provides meals for HeadStart and other school feeding programs.  In the summer of 2017, the kitchen produced more than 75,000 meals for summer feeding programs in Genesee and Saginaw counties.

Today, the Food Bank provides over 51 million pounds of food, including over 17 million pounds of fresh produce each year to those in need.  Working with more than 700 hunger relief partners consisting of local soup kitchens, homeless shelters and food pantries, the Food Bank network serves over 331,000 people in eastern Michigan who would otherwise go hungry