Lewiston, ID – On Thursday, Nov. 3, The Idaho Foodbank cut a ribbon and celebrated its new north central Idaho facility with a ceremony for local business leaders and donors.
This is the culmination of years of planning and effort. The new facility will provide programs and/or services to the 9 northern-most counties in the state. It will help the Foodbank, which has operated out of Lewiston since 1994, reach more people than ever before.
Chairman of the Foodbank’s Statewide Steering Committee for the Fresh Approach campaign, Patricia Kempthorne said, “Even as the economy improves and hunger numbers in Idaho level off, we still need to do more to reach the people in need in every part of our state. This new facility will enable the Foodbank to bring in more of the nutritious food that doesn’t just solve hunger, but does so in a healthy way.”
The building comes at the perfect time, as the Foodbank launches its “Hope for the Holidays” campaign. The new facility will play an integral role in the goal of distributing the food for more than 2.5 million meals. Some of that will come from the current “Feed the Foodbank” effort in Lewiston, with more than 25 companies working together to collect food to fill the new structure.
Feeding America’s annual hunger study “Map the Meal Gap” estimates more than 17,000 people in north central Idaho are food insecure, meaning they may not know where they’ll get their next meal. More than 4,000 of those people are children.
“Our community is in need and the Foodbank has worked for more than 12 years to help those who are hungry in north central Idaho,” said Joanna Alford, Local Campaign Committee Co-Chairman. “North central Idaho looks after its own and this new building is a symbol of the great work being done to help our friends and neighbors. More help is needed. We still hope to raise the funding needed for this new building.”
No comments:
Post a Comment