Funviralpark After 30 years of operations in cramped warehouses, Second Harvest Food Bank in northwestern North Carolina is moving into a new, larger headquarters. The move comes amid a growing need for nutritious meals for people suffering from food insecurity.
The main building consists of multiple warehouses, and has deteriorated in the 20 years since its opening. To meet the growing demand for food, the nonprofit began leasing three of his other facilities, renting additional offsite storage, and employing refrigerated trucks to increase total available storage space. We made it 114,000 square feet.
But even that wasn’t enough for the approximately 70 tonnes of food that Second Harvest delivers to the community each day. CEO Eric Aft says the new location will nearly double its capacity to store and process food for those in need.
“In my opinion, any number would be too high, but certainly 20% of children are in that situation, and 16% of individuals in our area are in that situation. And that’s just unacceptable and we need to work to do that…something about it,” says Aft. “And that’s our mission and that’s why we’re here.”
Avto said inflation, health problems and other economic challenges facing local families have led to an increase in the number of individuals receiving food assistance this year, all but one each month. . He says that when the new headquarters is fully operational (sometime in late January), Second His Harvest will be more impactful than ever.
