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The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has purchased a building on Scotch Valley Road in Hollidaysburg that it plans to renovate for use as its “Western Healthy Food Hub” for operations in Blair, Clearfield, Centre, Bedford and parts of Mifflin counties.
The $1 million cost of creating the hub, which will require about $175,000 a year to operate, should save the Harrisburg-based regional food bank about $500,000 a year, based on avoided transportation costs and other benefits, including access to locally donated food, said Food Bank Executive Director Joe Arthur.
Building the hub in the 11,000 square-foot former cleaning supply building across from Curry Rail Services to distribute food to local pantries is a followup to the organization’s recent creation of a hub at Williamsport, which has worked out well, according to a news release.
The renovation should take three or four months, and won’t interfere with the American Rescue Workers food pantry operations in part of the newly acquired building, Arthur said.
Creating the local hub will save on transportation costs by eliminating the need for obtaining food in the Harrisburg and Williamsport areas and trucking it west, Arthur said.
The food distributed locally will instead come from more local sources, including area farms, orchards, farm markets and other food businesses, according to the news release.
A Food Bank employee from Hollidaysburg will do much of the farm sourcing, Arthur said.
Having a local presence by itself should also increase donations, he added.
Transportation has become more expensive, not only for fuel for the organization’s fleet of 28 refrigerated box trucks, but also with rates paid to common carriers that supplement the in-house fleet, Arthur said.
The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank is one of 200 regional food banks in the Feeding America national food bank network, which covers all the counties in the U.S. and also Puerto Rico, Arthur said.
The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank itself has 1,050 partner pantries, including local ones like the American Rescue Workers, the Altoona Food Bank and Food for Families, he said.
About 202,000 central Pennsylvania residents per month benefit from the distributions of the Central Pennsylvania bank, according to the news release.
There are “huge advantages” to being a pantry partner, because the organization has network connections with national and international food donors and large food companies, along with monetary donors, according to Arthur.
The network is the “gold standard” for food safety laws and regulations, and operates five days a week — six if you count volunteer work — all year long, Arthur said.
The food bank “works hard to provide a nutritional menu,” and also to raise money, some of which it uses to provide grants to needy partner agencies, he said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.