Feeding the Valley breaks ground on $3.5 million food distribution facility

Giant forks and spoons, appropriately, were used Thursday morning instead of the typical shovels as Feeding the Valley, the region’s food bank, begins construction on a new and much improved distribution facility in north Columbus.

Frank Sheppard, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit organization, said Wednesday that the 31,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution hub, expected to be completed by early 2017, will be state-of-the-art and serve the area for years to come.

“It’s finally coming to fruition, our plan to build a facility that will double our capacity here in Columbus and, not only that, but quadruple the amount of cold and frozen storage we’ll have for healthy fruits, meats and vegetables that we’re trying to distribute more of,” he said.

The ground-breaking event included comments from Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, Open Door Community House Executive Director Kim Jenkins and Feeding the Valley proponent Becky Rumer, along with a bit of song from members of Friendship Baptist Church.

“For 81 years, Open Door has been providing after-school care for children and youth,” Jenkins said during the ceremony. “For most of them, the hot nutritious meal they receive every afternoon through Feeding the Valley’s Kids Café program, it’s the only evening meal they have to look forward to. And in most of their homes, there either isn’t enough food for everyone or they eat junk food just to fill their stomachs.”

Rumer, who is chief administrative officer at Synovus Financial Corp., said simply that springtime is the ideal moment for launching such an important expansion project.

“Spring is the season of renewal,” she said. “It’s a season of regeneration and resurrection and revitalization. So I can’t think of a more appropriate time for a ground breaking for Feeding the Valley, an organization that has been one of those life forces in our community for more than 30 years.”

Tomlinson confided to those gathered at the event that she thanks God for Feeding the Valley and those involved with the organization that assists with such a basic need for people throughout the area.

“We’re going to be able to make folks in our community food secure so they and their children and the next generation can go and take advantage of things that this great community has to offer,” she said. “I congratulate you on this wonderful milestone that you’ve reached. I hope you’ll all join together to bring additional resources to Nourishing Hope Together,” which is the name of the food bank’s fund-raising effort.

Feeding the Valley Food Bank’s new facility is being built on 5.5 acres at 6938 Jamesson Way in the Midland area of Columbus. The location is prime, with it adjacent to the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 (J.R. Allen Parkway) and U.S. Highway 27 (Manchester Expressway).

“Those are the major arteries to all the counties that we serve. It’s just a fantastic location and a great opportunity that came our way,” said Sheppard, whose original plan was to find an existing building and retrofit it for the food bank’s needs. The search included three dozen structures in Columbus, but none were cost effective to convert to a fully modern and efficient facility.

“The need for food banking is really to expand vertically,” he said. “A smaller facility with higher ceilings is far more efficient than a building laid out over a lot of land with one floor.”

Aside from the additional dry and cold storage capabilities, the new distribution center will have 30-foot ceilings, four receiving docks, a 3,000-square-foot commercial-grade kitchen and 4,000 square feet of office and training space. The organization employs 19 full time and seven part time, serving 14 counties in Georgia and Russell County in Alabama, a population base of 430,000 people.

Feeding the Valley, one of seven regional food banks in Georgia, currently distributes 7 million pounds of food to about 40,000 people in its coverage area each year at its current 5928 Coca-Cola Blvd. location, where it has been more than two decades. That is expected to climb to more than 10 million pounds and 55,000 people served annually over the next five years at the new site.

The $3.5 million distribution center project is being paid for through a $4.7 million capital campaign dubbed, “Nourishing Hope Together,” with all but $1 million of that already raised. A $450,000 challenge grant to bridge that gap is in play, with Feeding the Valley needing to match that amount by June 2017 to receive the grant money.

At its core, Sheppard stressed, is the critical need to better the daily lives and futures of regional residents — young and aging — through good, healthy meals. About 84,000 individuals in Feeding the Valley’s service area are considered “food insecure,” with 32,000 under age 18. One in four children and one in five adults in the Chattahoochee Valley area are considered “chronically hungry,” he said.

“Those children are statistically 20 percent behind their peers in pursuit of academic success,” he said. “Obviously, giving them the nutrition they need gives them the opportunity to learn and achieve and be successful in their academic pursuits, which helps our community as a whole.”

The aging population benefits just as much, he said, with regular nutritious meals helping to keep them healthy. That’s where the additional cold and frozen storage space comes in.

“If we are getting food into the community that is higher nutritional value — fresh fruits, meats and vegetables — then we reduce the issues that we have with obesity, diabetes and other long-term health issues, all of which place a financial burden on our community,” Sheppard said.

Founded in 1983 as Interfaith Food Bank, the organization also at one point was known as Second Harvest before Feeding the Valley. It receives food and other products from various retailers and supermarket chains, with grassroots food drives from local groups, businesses and schools contributing to the effort.

Feeding the Valley opened a satellite facility in LaGrange, Ga., in 2014, with it putting more than a million pounds of food into the areas it serves north of Columbus. The food bank here also relies heavily on volunteers to help with its mission, with it accumulating more than 18,000 volunteer hours in 2015.

The building contractor for the new Feeding the Valley distribution facility is Columbus-based River City Contracting. Design work was done by Hecht Burdeshaw Architects of Columbus.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Feeding the Valley breaks ground on $3.5 million food distribution facility."