NORTHEAST IOWA FOOD BANK PREPARES FOR OPPORTUNITIES IN A NEW FACILITY

Construction of the new Northeast Iowa Food Bank warehouse and distribution center is complete! Staff and many volunteers have gathered over the course of several days to move operations to the new site just blocks away at 1605 Lafayette Street. The Food Bank will have fully functioning programming and distribution effective April 3rd. 

The new 45,359-square-foot facility in Waterloo will serve as a food warehouse and distribution center for Northeast Iowa. This facility will provide food to nonprofit agencies serving an estimated 40,000 low-income people annually in a core 16-county service area - nearly 40% of those served are children. Our food reaches children, seniors, families and disabled individuals receiving assistance from food pantries, emergency shelters, meal sites, low-income day cares, senior centers, and residential facilities for the disabled. Our service area includes Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Fayette, Floyd, Grundy, Howard, Mitchell, Poweshiek, Tama, and Winneshiek counties. The new facility will also house the Cedar Valley Food Pantry which serves over 1,200 households in Black Hawk County every month.

The facility includes a 30,000-square-foot warehouse (with refrigeration and freezer facilities), a dedicated food sorting and repacking space, an expanded pantry area, a commercial kitchen, a volunteer room, and administration and distribution offices. With the addition of this new warehouse and distribution facility, we anticipate distributing upwards of 2 million additional pounds of food within 3 years of the facility being fully operational.

"After much planning, fundraising, organizing and construction the reality of a newly expanded and much more efficient space is finally here! The new Northeast Iowa Food Bank will be an important resource to the Northeast Iowa as well as the thousands of individuals that we serve throughout our 16-county service area," commented Barbara Prather, Executive Director of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.

Once settled in, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank plans to host an official grand opening celebration on Tuesday, May 21^st from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. The event will be a picnic and open house with Food Bank staff will offering tours of the facility. A short program will take place at 5 p.m. which will include recognition of lead donors as well as ongoing volunteers.

For further information or to donate and be a part of this project, visit

www.northeastiowafoodbank.org or call 319-235-0507.
 

The Northeast Iowa Food Bank provides nutritious food and grocery products, as well as hunger education, to approximately 200 nonprofit organizations who assist the hungry and individuals who need food assistance to sustain life. Last year, the Food Bank distributed more than 5.2 million pounds of food within a 16-county service area through the Cedar Valley Food Pantry, located at the warehouse site in Waterloo and other food pantries throughout 16 counties; through various programs that service hungry children and senior citizens including the BackPack Program, Kids Cafe, Elderly Nutrition Services, and other organizations who need the services of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. The Food Bank also provides for under-served communities through the Mobile Food Pantry program. The Food Bank is a member of the Iowa Food Bank Association and Feeding America.