In 1995, Governor Graves appointed a task force to look into the results of a study that showed that one in 22 Kansas children were at risk of being hungry each month. The task force determined the primary reason for hunger was that otherwise available food was not accessible to people in poverty in rural Kansas.

This same year, 1995, the Kansas Food Bank initiated a rural delivery system that distributes food to rural agencies in Eastern, Northern, and Western Kansas, delivering products to Independence, Salina, Emporia, Junction City, Garden City, Dodge City and Liberal. Agencies in these areas pick up their requested food at the nearest site. The Kansas Food Bank distributes over one million pounds of food to rural Kansas through the Rural Delivery Program.

In 1997, the Kansas Food Bank opened a branch facility in Independence to help address the ever-increasing needs in Southeast Kansas.