August 2025 (ST. LOUIS) – Operation Food Search (OFS) is pleased to announce the completion of their $9 million Healthy Food, Healthy Community campaign, which funded the renovation of OFS’s headquarters.
“It has been a privilege to watch members of our region come together to help us enhance the space where we address hunger in St. Louis,” said Kristen Wild, president and CEO of OFS. “We received contributions of all sizes, every one of them a commitment to building a healthy, more equitable community.”
The Healthy Food, Healthy Community campaign centered around renovation of the OFS facility in Overland, where the organization leads the effort to feed more than 200,000 food insecure people each month across the region. The project was driven by OFS’s vision of ensuring every person has equitable access to fresh, healthy food.
The renovation comes at a critical time; many local pantries have seen a 20-30% increase in the need for food since 2020.
Project highlights include:
- More than doubled capacity for food storage, both in refrigerated areas for fresh, healthy produce, dairy, and meats, and racking areas for nonperishable items.
- A new, custom-built teaching kitchen includes eight stations for hands-on instruction aimed at increasing healthy eating practices and nutrition knowledge in the community.
- Designated meal packing rooms for OFS’s MetroMarket mobile grocery store, Child Nutrition, and Nourishing Healthy Starts. The efficiency this creates is having an immediate impact: For example, MetroMarket added more stops during the 2025 season because trucks can be packed more quickly.
- Food banking is able to accept more donations of healthy food/can be more nimble.
Leadership campaign donors include Enterprise Mobility Foundation, Berges Family Foundation, Sunnen Foundation, Bunge North America, William R. Orthwein Jr. and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation, St. Louis Port Authority, Big League Impact, Jefferson Foundation, Interco Charitable Trust, William and Christine Linnenbringer, Straubs Fine Foods, and an anonymous donor. Visit our campaign page for full details and a list of donors: https://www.operationfoodsearch.org/renovation-project/
About Operation Food Search
Founded in 1981, Operation Food Search is a local, independent hunger relief organization that provides food, nutrition education and innovative programs in order to reduce food insecurity and increase equitable access to food. We serve 200,000 people every month through a network of 330 partners in 25 counties in Missouri and Illinois. We use a combination of immediate food assistance and supportive services, while also working on long-term solutions and systemic changes to help solve the problem of hunger. For more information, call (314) 726-5355 or visit www.OperationFoodSearch.org.
About Operation Food Search
Founded in 1981, Operation Food Search is a local, independent hunger relief organization that provides food, nutrition education and innovative programs in order to reduce food insecurity and increase equitable access to food. We serve 200,000 people every month through a network of 330 partners in 25 counties in Missouri and Illinois. We use a combination of immediate food assistance and supportive services, while also working on long-term solutions and systemic changes to help solve the problem of hunger. For more information, call (314) 726-5355 or visit www.OperationFoodSearch.org.
Media Contacts:
Lisa Brown | Lisa.Brown@OperationFoodSearch.org | (314) 944-6159
Amanda Galloway | amanda@amandacookpr.com | (314) 598-0544
