CHRISTA STALEY
Christa Staley lives near Minier but helps feed people throughout Illinois, the country and overseas. Before Midwest Food Bank (MFB) named her executive director in 2024, Staley earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Colorado Tech and Lincoln Christian universities and worked in administration at Afni and State Farm.
A private non-profit enterprise, MFB is the nation’s largest food bank, partnering with other charities to deliver food at no cost. Founded in 2003, the Peoria division grew from 50 workers two years ago to 67 now, serving MFB locations in more than a dozen states, including Iowa, Indiana, New York and Texas, plus branches in West Africa and Haiti.
Between meetings, the 51-year-old Staley took time to visit over coffee.
1. Things are busy; are they getting better?
The need is greater. When the economy slips, the cost of living goes up, and working families [struggle]. We’ll never eliminate food insecurity, but we can help avoid malnutrition and hunger. Peoria’s division serves 30 counties, and two years ago we had 350 agencies on our “wait list.”
That’s 380 now.
But the Midwest Food Bank keeps going.
In January, we got a $118,000 grant from Impact Central Illinois to help us buy a refrigerated truck for perishable food and reduce waste — our first new truck!
The Midwest Food Bank acquired a refrigerator truck to help better store and distribute food.
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2. Is it difficult to balance compassion and management?
I’ve been involved with philanthropy for 20 years. And doing this and feeling compassion aren’t disconnected. It can be stressful. Some days there seem to be empty shelves, but it’s like the loaves and the fishes: God keeps us alive. I’ve never seen so many miracles as here.
3. There must be logistical challenges. What’s an example?
We work with many places, from Dream Center and the Salvation Army to Aunt Millie’s Bakery and Chick-fil-A, plus volunteers and donors who help us do what we do. Amazon regularly delivers 968 food boxes from here to Kentucky, and once we were behind packing and a bunch of us worked to catch up before the truck got here. But when it did, we were still an hour or so away from finishing. We were upset. Then the driver smiled and said he’d go have lunch, and we made it!
4. Personally, do you find some escape — pinochle? Hiking?
It’s odd, I guess, but I’m a certified yoga instructor and sometimes my husband and I travel through a contract to teach yoga, and we get to see other countries.
5. You literally are focused on food.
Do you have an edible “guilty pleasure”?
I’ve never known hunger, but I indulge [in] cooking and baking. But I make good food.