God’s Pantry Food Bank has closed on a property for its new Morehead Distribution Center. The property is located approximately 5 miles from the I-64 and KY 801 intersection in the John Will Stacy MMRC Regional Business Park.
The proposed 9,000 sq. foot facility will house food and supplies needed for the Northeastern region of the food banking operation, allowing greater access to food for the Food Bank’s network of member agencies in this area.
“The addition of this building marks another important milestone in the growth of God’s Pantry Food Bank,” said Marian F. Guinn, CEO, God’s Pantry Food Bank. “Our leadership team and board of directors developed a multifaceted plan to appropriately expand our infrastructure to better meet the needs of our member agencies and low income Kentuckians, and we are anxious to open this new regional distribution center in the New Year.”
Funding for this project has largely been made possible through the dedication and commitment of the Morehead Regional Advisory Board, chaired by Ben Caudill (V.P., Commercial Lending, Kentucky Bank) and local private donors in the Morehead area.
“We are very excited to see this dream become a reality and it would not be possible without the generous financial support of local community members,” said Caudill.
Food Bank programs and agencies, such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, senior centers, day treatment facilities and childcare centers, will rely on the new Morehead Distribution Center as their hub for receiving food, that they distribute free of charge, to families and individuals in need.
The Morehead Distribution Center will immediately impact 11 surrounding counties (Bath, Bracken, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Lewis, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Robertson and Rowan) including 3 of those counties that are currently underserved, as an effort to inject more food and supplies and attract agencies and organizations wishing to partner with the Food Bank in the fight against hunger for the Morehead region.
Now that God’s Pantry Food Bank owns the property, construction can begin to make it suitable as a food safe warehousing facility. Construction of the building is expected to be completed by the end of this calendar year.
This project is fresh on the heels of the Food Bank’s recent opening of the Southeast Regional Distribution Center. This opening in London, KY has increased the availability of fresh, frozen and dry foods supplying, on average, 75,000 more pounds of food each month to agencies in the Southeast region.
“The first 6 months we have experienced with the Distribution Center in London, is a valuable model for our new Distribution Center in Morehead,” said God’s Pantry Food Bank COO John Lancaster. “We have successfully increased the amount of food and people we serve in the Southeast region of our service area. Our partner agencies are better equipped to serve their clients when transportation and inventory storage is available within a reasonable distance from their location.”
Adding the Morehead facility to the network of distribution centers that God’s Pantry Food Bank now operates in Central and Eastern Kentucky is an important step towards increasing the amount of food distributed to areas in need.
The mission of God’s Pantry Food Bank is to reduce hunger in Kentucky through community cooperation making the best possible use of all available resources. Along with our network of nearly 300 member agencies the Food Bank serves 50 counties of Central and Eastern Kentucky distributing $100 worth of food for every $10 donated.
Last year, God’s Pantry Food Bank and its member agencies distributed more than 24 million pounds of groceries to more than 211,000 individuals, including 8 million pounds of fresh produce. God’s Pantry Food Bank is a member of Feeding America. Through community partnerships and distribution of food to 50,000 agencies, Feeding America collectively works to assure that people in need have access to a balanced diet.
Story provided by God's Pantry Food Bank
