The King's Storehouse Food Bank

The King's Storehouse Food Bank is a nondenominational Christian organization which distributes food from a central location to nonprofit organizations who feed the needy of East Texas and surrounding areas. The King's Storehouse helps feed the hungry with the purpose of showing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

In 38 years, over 30 million pounds of food has been distributed by the King's Storehouse Food Bank from a nearly 100-year-old building located in north Tyler. Before the King's Storehouse Food Bank operations, the closest food bank to Tyler was in Dallas. In 1985, Bob Steeger from Operation Blessing contacted a minister in Grand Saline, who contacted local church food pantries. Operation Blessing had 2,000 pounds of rice they wanted to donate. Local pastors and volunteers from church food pantries met in Grand Saline several times, and God called a group of eight to move forward with a food bank. This food bank would procure and store food to distribute to food pantries and nonprofits, which would distribute food to individuals. In 1985, the King's Storehouse Food Bank - the first food bank in East Texas - was born. A warehouse in north Tyler was rented, 2,000 lbs. of rice was received, and 1986 distributions to local food pantries commenced. By 1987, God provided a building with a freezer, coolers, carts, desks, and equipment. The former Tyler Fruit and Vegetable building, owned by Southside Bank and ready for service, was accessible. The land it rests upon was purchased. In 1988, the mayor of Tyler asked our Board to consider merging with a new local food bank that was yet to be constructed. After discussions, we declined, as we wished to maintain our Christian heritage, name, and operation. We received a resolution of support in 1988 from the city of Tyler. Over the years, we saw the needs of nonprofits change. In 2008, we added a room and doubled our size with a generous donation from Rose Heights Church. The room, shelved by Brookshire's, gave us the space to store cased food pallets. In 2014, we purchased a building across the street - the Peggy Abernathy Annex - and Brookshire's generously racked and shelved the space. This additional space will let us help nonprofits meet the increasing needs in East Texas.