How Lexington's first food bank was founded and continues to help across KY today

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2 days ago

Editor's Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city's history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
Mim Hunt, Lexington's first food bank founder, couldn't escape her calling to help others.
Mildred 'Mim' Salmon Lunsford Hunt spent her life helping people in Lexington and beyond. Although at one point she vowed to leave 'the heartbreaking profession of social work,' the desire to help those in need pulled her back in.
Born on Feb. 24, 1914, Hunt grew up in Lexington. In the 1940s, Hunt moved to New York City to pursue a career as a child welfare worker.
After several years in the city, she moved back to her hometown, vowing to leave social work behind. In the early 1950s, though, that would change.
In a 'History of God's Pantry,' Hunt wrote that she realized that Lexington had its own empoverished areas just like New York City. Enlisted to help those in need by Dr. Harriet Marble, Hunt raised money to help Black patients at Eastern State Hospital.
Later, she and her husband Robert started a retail space selling health food, gifts and antiques named Mim's. Instead of leaving social work behind her, she started collecting food, clothing and bedding for those in need just blocks away from her and distributing them directly to people.
By 1955, her basement had become the first organized 'food bank' in the city. Soon, neighbors were bringing donations to what they called 'Mim's Pantry' in her Parkers Mill Road home. Hunt was quick to point out it wasn't her pantry.
'I don't fill these shelves,' she said. 'God does. This is God's Pantry.'
Thus, God's Pantry Food Bank was born. It remained mobile until the first brick and mortar location opened in 1959.
Since then, the pantry has grown to serve 50 counties in Central and Eastern Kentucky, with a dedicated staff committed to helping those experiencing food insecurity.
Between July 2023 and June 2024, the food bank served more than 264,000 individuals and distributed nearly 47 million pounds of food with the help of more than 32,000 volunteer hours. The food bank estimates that one in six Kentuckians and one in four children in Central and Eastern Kentucky experienced hunger during that 12-month period.
Hunt, who died in 2005, said she was called to make a difference.
'I have never felt that life was a popularity contest and as I read my bible's marching orders 'to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give a cup of cold water to the thirsty,' I listened to my own drumbeat and with God's help — forged ahead!' she wrote on the pantry's 40th anniversary. 'I truly believe that one day someone will be celebrating a 100th anniversary if we continue to have faith!'
Have a question or story idea related to Lexington's 250-year history? Let us know at [e-mail].