The Breadbasket's roots can be traced back to 1981, when Tom Mulhern returned from working in Africa with a heightened sensitivity to food insecurity. There, he had witnessed the effectiveness of food banks and began talks of starting one in Manhattan. Many people latched on to this idea, including Edith Stunkel, who quickly became a driving force in the opening of the Flint Hills Breadbasket in 1982. In 1983, there were 14,000 lbs of food collected and distributed to individuals and families locally. Forty years later that number has increased to 1,226,077 lbs in 2023! Thanks to inspired leadership, community support, and incredible volunteers, the Breadbasket has continued to grow its impact in eliminating food waste and insecurity in Riley county over the last 42 years.
Through the years
1984 Atina Hanna begins her 8-year long career as Director 1986 The first Mayor's Holiday Tree Food Drive helps FHBB to feed families durring holidays 1987 Community support funded construction of the exisiting west building 1991 377,260 lbs of food were distributed, beating the previous year by over 100,000 lbs 1992 Shirley Bramhall begins her 17 years as Director 1993 A recordbreaking 2,813,247 lbs of food were distributed in response to flood relief 2001 The warehouse is built to accommodate storage for increasing food donations 2022 Karla Hagemeister starts her career as the current Exectutive Director 2024 Purchase of buildings from Furniture Warehouse will be FHBB's new home.
