In the northernmost reaches of Indiana’s wealthiest county, partners are seeing more demand for food.

At the Harbour Shores Church distribution in Cicero, cars roll up an hour ahead of schedule and wait for the Gleaners mobile to start. Central to this distribution are the church’s pastor, Mark Hall, and Lisa Hall, who operate The Feeding Team, a hunger relief organization based in Hamilton County.

The Halls know the smattering of multimillion dollar homes and expensive boats saturating the area can hide a hard truth about their community: much of it is inside a food desert.

“We know this part of Hamilton County is overlooked. We just want to do what we can to help and give back,” Lisa said. 

For their part, Mark and Lisa weren’t always on the giving side of distributions. 

In the late 1980s, they were a young married couple with small children at home and more bills than paychecks. Even though Mark and Lisa both worked full-time jobs, their salaries weren’t enough to support a growing family. 

When an unexpected bill came up, supper was often the first thing to take a hit.

“More nights than we care to admit, dinner was a can of beef stew,” Mark said. 

They also knew they couldn’t be the only families going through food insecurity, and that understanding planted the seed for what would one day become The Feeding Team. 

Today, they work alongside a talented network of community pantries designed to help families facing the same struggles the Halls once experienced firsthand.

The Halls also understood through their own experiences that food insecurity isn’t limited to one income bracket. Many families fall into a gap: making too much to qualify for assistance, but not enough to make ends meet.

Using American Community Survey data, The Feeding Team identifies households of five or more making under $45,000 a year and places pantries in strategic locations nearby: convenient locations like near health departments, schools, county fairgrounds or community gathering spots.

“We wanted to meet people right where they are,” Mark explains. “These pantries are designed to carry a family through a meal or two, but they also open the door to larger distributions and community partnerships.”

What started as one family’s mission has grown into a statewide hunger relief movement. Supported by partners like Gleaners, The Feeding Team has placed dozens of pantries across central Indiana.

The impact speaks for itself.

At a recent distribution at Hamilton Heights High School, volunteers served 184 families in a single day – the largest turnout to date.

For the first time, volunteers recently saw lines spilling out into the street, a sobering sign of the growing need and a testament to the trust families place in this mission.

From nights of stretching cans of stew to leading one of Hamilton County’s most impactful hunger-relief efforts, the Halls’ journey has come full circle. For hundreds of neighbors, The Feeding Team is more than a safety net. It’s a reminder that sometimes the hardest seasons in our lives are the very moments that prepare us to serve others.

Gleaners is proud to nurture dedicated partnerships with organizations like The Feeding Team. You can learn more about their work and see a list of pantries here.