For 36 years at the McLean County Farm Bureau, Mike Swartz worked at what he called the "front end" of agriculture.
"We dealt with a raw commodity product and we made sure that, as we watched local politics and land rights and worked on the national or state level regarding regulations... agriculture was robust and thriving," Swartz said in an interview for WGLT's Sound Ideas. "We made sure agriculture was strong."
Recently named the new executive director at Midwest Food Bank in Normal, Swartz said he still considers himself as working in agriculture — just the back end of it, now.
"The food's been processed. It's been made into a product and now we're giving it to the needy, which is just as much the heart for me as anything: To see that I could help farmers on one side, now I'm at the back end, helping the recipient," he said.
Swart succeeded former Midwest Food Bank executive director Aimee Beam, who came to the position in September 2023 and held it for just under a year. He wasn't looking to change jobs just yet — though retirement had been on his mind, he said — but when the nonprofit called to tell him it would have some positions opening up this year, he felt compelled to look into them.
"God cracked open a door me. He cracked it, I looked in," Swartz said. "As the door swung open, I learned more and I figured, 'God's accelerating the plan for me to do something in ministry early.' It was a faith-based jump, is what it was, and I felt very comfortable in that move."
He's been on the job for a little less than a month, but Swartz said he knows already that one of his main goals will be as the head of the agency: Making sure the volunteer base remains robust.
"The culture is totally different than where I was because we are totally volunteer-based," he said. "There's six employees and we've got 9,000 volunteers that come through a year. We could potentially lose the six people for a while and survive; we cannot lose the 9,000 and the six of us do it."
Swartz said the majority of the food bank's volunteers are retirement-age.
"If we look from today and ahead 10 years, we could potentially lose half our volunteers," he said.
Some 7,000 "fringe" volunteers visit the location in north Normal one-to-four times a year; 150-200 "core" volunteers come on weekly basis and the rest are groups that visit on special occasions.
"Those people that are coming as fringe volunteers — I want to make sure we capture them and they understand our mission as a faith-based organization," he said.
Midwest Food Bank has 10 locations in the U.S. and one each in East Africa and Haiti. Its flagship location in north Normal is nearly two-and-a-half times larger than its other locations and its warehouse holds about 65 semi truck-loads of food at any given time. Though the supply is great, Swartz said, so too is the need.
"The need will not go away. The need will continue as economies become tighter, more restrictive and there's a disparity between having good jobs and lower-paying jobs, Swartz said. "The need will be there and I want to make sure that I help meet the need with the volunteers and employees that I work with."
Swartz's transition out of the McLean County Farm Bureau this summer also ends a two-decade run as the manager of the McLean County Fair. This year's fair from July 24-28 marked his last after 21 years, something he'll likely come to terms with next year.
"Probably around June 1, my whole life would switch. I dropped everything, particularly with the Farm Bureau, and went to the fair," he said. "It's probably next June or July when I'm not working 70-plus-hours a week, prepping for the fair, that I'll say, 'I have a life.'"
The McLean County Farm Bureau Board is responsible for replacing the fair manager, a process that is still ongoing.
