Nonprofit Angel Food Ministries lays off 49

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Angel Food Ministries, the Monroe nonprofit that specializes in selling food cheaply to the poor and unemployed, laid off 49 of about 260 workers over the past two weeks.

Enlarge photo

Chris Quinn, cquinn@ajc.com The salary of Angel Food Ministries founder Joe Wingo, seen here in a 2008 photoe) was also cut.

More Atlanta area news »

• Whitney Houston's death | Fans react on Twitter
• Chief appraiser stepping down
• Weekend temps in low 20s
• Canton man killed in head-on

Spokesman Juda Engelmayer said increased costs in shipping food around the country helped drive the layoffs.

The organization cannot control those costs, Engelmayer said. "The only thing that we can control is what is going on in Monroe."

The cost-cutting includes reductions in managerial salaries of up to 20 percent, he said. Founder Joe Wingo's salary was also cut, but Engelmayer declined to say by how much. According to IRS documents, in 2008 Wingo made $764,000.

The organization also plans to cut the price of its $30 box of food by $2 to $5 in the next two months, he said. Angel Food Ministries sells boxes of food once a month through a network of more than 5,000 churches nationwide. Patrons pay $30 and get $50 worth or more of food.

The organization ran into trouble in 2009 when the FBI searched its offices. Nothing has come of that investigation. Around that time, Wingo, his two sons and his wife were all on staff and made about $500,000 annually. Since then, there has been an audit at the nonprofit, and one son and Wingo's wife left the organization.