After 30 years operating out of a cramped warehouse, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina is transitioning into a new and much larger headquarters. The move comes amid a rising need for nutritious meals for those who suffer from food insecurity.
The main building was comprised of multiple warehouses and was outgrown 20 years after opening. To accommodate the increasing demand for food, the nonprofit began leasing three other facilities, renting additional offsite storage, and employing refrigerated trucks, bringing the total available storage space to 114,000 square feet.
But even that was insufficient for the roughly 70 tons of food that Second Harvest facilitates bringing to the community every day. CEO Eric Aft says the new location will nearly double their capacity to store and handle food for those in need.
"Any number is too high in my mind, but certainly when you talk about 20% of kids are in that circumstance, and you know, 16% of any individuals in our region, it’s simply not acceptable and we need to be working to do something about it," says Aft. "And that’s our mission and that’s why we’re here."
Aft says with inflation, health issues and other economic challenges local families are facing, he has seen an increase in individuals receiving food assistance in every month but one this year. He says once the new headquarter is fully operational — sometime in late January — Second Harvest will be more impactful than it’s ever been.