RICHMOND, Va. – Feed More today announced its intent to purchase a 10-acre property at Villa Park Drive and develop a new food bank building. This will allow Feed More to more efficiently meet the ever-evolving needs of Central Virginia neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
“Feed More has been fortunate to call Rhoadmiller Street home for the past two decades. Despite our best efforts to make our 100-year-old tobacco warehouses work for a 42-million-pound food bank, our modifications and temporary off-site storage solutions over the past three years have reached the end of their runway. We’ve outgrown our current space,” said Doug Pick, President and Chief Executive Officer at Feed More. “Significantly increased demand for our hunger-fighting programs and looming construction in the Diamond District make our present location untenable. As a result, we are investing in a new building to better serve the needs of our community today and tomorrow.”
Feed More is already considered one of the most complex hunger-relief organizations in the country. Our scale is immense and ever increasing:
- Feed More produces more than 10,000 made-from-scratch meals out of the Bayard Community Kitchen each week.
- We operate a robust Meals on Wheels program serving up to 2,000 homebound clients every week.
- We manage a bustling Food Bank Distribution Center, which distributed over 42 million pounds last year through our various programs and partner food pantries to those in need.
- Feed More effectively utilizes the caring services of up to 200 volunteers a day, in addition to our 100 employees.
Today, 1 in 9 Central Virginians struggle with food insecurity, and inflation has driven the cost of groceries up by nearly 15% when compared to this time last year. As a result, Feed More saw a 48% increase in new clients seeking food assistance during the first six months of 2022 when compared to the same period last year.
“Feed More is no stranger to reinvention. In fact, we’ve relocated five times since our start in 1967 to better meet the needs of our community,” Pick said. “By planning a new building from the ground-up, we can ensure increased throughput and scale our ability to buy food in bulk and explore new partnerships with retailers, local farmers and food rescue groups. And of course, it allows us to continue our role as a catalytic community partner, working with and across other nonprofits, business partners, and those essential volunteers.”
