Does anyone remember Angel Food Ministries? it was a non-profit organization that distributed inexpensive food to families around the country. The ministry would find vendors that were willing to sell them food at deep discounts. Families, regardless of income could order assembled boxes of this food each month. Each box might contain an assortment of different types of food, from peanut butter to frozen chicken, and was expected to feed a family of four for one week. Additional special boxes of food, such as a fruit and vegetables box, or a gluten free box could also be purchased. The boxes could be picked up at local sites, usually at a church, were volunteers kept track of the orders and assembled the boxes.
There were no applications or qualifications to order food boxes, and each box cost anywhere from $31 to $51, well below the regular retail cost for such items. Boxes could also be purchased with food stamps.
Angel Food Ministries helped many families who were struggling with the high cost of food. In 2005, the USDA gave Angel Food Ministries a large grant to help feed Americans. Unfortunately, the organization closed its operations last year, in September of 2011, amid allegations of fraud.
The allegations contend that the founders of Angel Food Ministries, the Wingo family, enriched themselves of $2.7 million, illegally by rerouting money from the organization to themselves, as well as taking kickbacks from various food vendors, and using the organization’s credit cards to purchase more than $850,000 in personal possessions. A federal indictment of 49 counts of fraud was brought against the Wingos.
The organization was never able to restructure and reorganize enough to continue to run. Angel Food Ministries had been in operation for 17 years before closing its doors. The organization blamed rising food and fuel prices and a decline in sales of its food boxes.
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