Prior to founding St. Mary's Food Bank, John van Hengel lived in Phoenix and volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen. Van Hengel spent much of his time collecting food to supply the soup kitchen and donating the surplus to the homeless throughout the city. Eventually, he was introduced to a struggling mother of 10 who used the food thrown out by grocery stores to feed her children. She expressed her desire for a place where unwanted food could be collected and given to the hungry, much like a bank collects and distributes money. After searching through dumpsters and noting that much of the discarded food was still edible, van Hengel decided to establish a "food bank" where unwanted food would be gathered in large quantities. St. Mary's Basilica of Phoenix loaned van Hengel $3,000 and provided him with an abandoned bakery to operate out of. With that, St. Mary's Food Bank was founded in 1967 and named after the basilica in honor of their contribution. 