Our Food Bank Distribution Center is often called the heartbeat of Feed More. Every year, we move more than 25 million pounds of food – 29 percent of which is fresh produce – out to our Agency Network of almost 300 nonprofit organizations and our many programs that directly serve our neighbors in need.
Our warehouse associates pull orders that come in from members of our Agency Network while our transportation department coordinate truckloads of food coming and going each weekday from our many retail and manufacturing partners. All while maintaining the highest safety standards and keeping every single product organized and accounted for. We truly could not do what we do without our Distribution Center.
“Our day is really about the logistics of getting products in and getting them back out to our agencies and the families that need our help,” shares Annie Andrews, Director of Supply Chain Operations at Feed More. “We’re really not a warehouse, but a distribution center. Nothing sits here for very long.”
With 36,000 square feet of warehouse space and a newly opened 5,000-square-foot Pauley Family cooler ready to take in even more fresh produce, our Distribution Center team continues to work on strengthening and improving efficiencies. In the last year they have implemented a hand held scanning system to reduce time and better find products, as well as renovated the former refrigerator into a fully functional freezer that can hold even more protein.
The Distribution Center also welcomes volunteers to work in the warehouse and help with our quality assurance systems. Teams in the perishable sorting area inspect fresh produce donations, some frozen foods and bread that Feed More receives and are about to go out for distribution. Additionally, nonperishable sorting teams inspect our food drive donations by looking at canned goods and pantry items that we receive before we make them available to our agency members.
“Our volunteers are such an important part of how we operate at Feed More,” said Annie. “The help we receive in the Distribution Center is essential in ensuring that the food we send out to the communities we serve is of the highest quality.”
Feed More’s Operations team continues to grow and expand the Distribution Center’s capabilities so that we are able to better serve our neighbors in need throughout Central Virginia.
