The End of Angel Food Ministries?

I received this e-mail today:

All,

It is with great heaviness of heart that we report that Angel Food Ministries will not be holding a September distribution. We are working extremely hard and looking forward to our future distributions.

In the meantime, please do not accept September orders. Please refund immediately any money to your customers for orders you have already received. If you require assistance with food stamp refunds, we will have personnel available. All online orders already received are currently being process for full refunds.

For months now, we have incurred rising food and fuel prices and operational costs in the face of declining sales. Nevertheless, we continued to offer food at prices far below the biggest retailers in America. We continued to serve the needy who live in areas that compromised our ability to operate profitably. We continued to reward our church partners and since 1994 have returned some $24 million to them.

As you all know, we have not relied on donations -- less than 1 percent of our revenue comes from donations and approximately 92 percent of our revenues goes directly to our food programs. Over past several months we have cut overhead to the bone, reduced staff, streamlined operations and slashed management compensation.

Our food vendors and trucking contractors have stood by us throughout these trying times and we have sought their counsel on how we will move forward. We thank them for their commitment to helping us help those in need.

Since 1994 we have helped millions save hundreds of millions in food costs. We are in the process of re-examining our business, of restructuring our operations to focus on ways in which we can continue to help our customers and church partners.

We appreciate all of your hard work, dedication and faithfulness to the Lord, your church, your community and to Angel Food Ministries. We will keep in touch with you concerning our progress and will post changes to our website, www.angelfoodministries.com.

And it is confirmed by the Atlanta Journal Constitution: LINK [ajc.com]