The leader of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, headquartered in Verona, was recently awarded one of the highest honors in the food banking movement. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The John van Hengel Fellowship Award is named after the inventor of the food banking model, who founded the country's first food bank in Phoenix in 1967. Each year, the Feeding America National Council honors one leader from across the organization's network of about 200 food banks, plus food pantries and local meal programs. This year's recipient was Michael McKee, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which serves 25 counties and eight cities in western and central Virginia.
KYLE WAIDE: It's really seen almost as a lifetime achievement award.
Kyle Waide is the president and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank and chair of the national council. He said McKee stood out in a number of ways.
WAIDE: Really centering the needs and interests of the neighbors that they serve there. … He's really demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the way that they engage a broad range of community stakeholders. … You know, he's just demonstrated a ton of humility and servant leadership.
McKee earns this accolade at a time when inflation continues to drive up demand on food banks.
WAIDE: We are facing extraordinary levels of need for food assistance across the country … especially in light of the fact that a lot of stimulus resources that were available during the pandemic are no longer available. … And Michael, alongside many others, has just done a great job figuring out how to navigate that challenge.
Under McKee's 10 years of leadership, the food bank has doubled the volume of food it distributes and is currently on track to give out about 30 million pounds of food this fiscal year.
