New warehouse will be nearly four times the size of old building to address greater need
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Washington, D.C., May 1, 2024 – The Capital Area Food Bank is dramatically expanding its ability to address elevated rates of hunger in the Greater Washington region through the construction of a larger, modernized distribution facility in Lorton, Va., that is set to open in late summer.
The new 45,000 square-foot facility being built at the site of the food bank’s previous Northern Virginia warehouse will be nearly four times larger than the old facility. The added size, along with upgraded technology, will allow CAFB to distribute far more food across the region, including more fresh produce and frozen protein.
“Even before the profound impacts of the pandemic, our northern Virginia warehouse was woefully inadequate to meet the need in the region,” said Radha Muthiah, president and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank. “Today, demand for food remains extremely high, and this new distribution center is a critical part of our investment in ensuring we can serve our neighbors effectively both today and into the future.”
As one of two warehouses that support CAFB’s distribution of food throughout the region, CAFB’s Lorton facility is critical to its work in Northern Virginia and beyond. Built in 1982 and acquired by CAFB in 1998, the original 12,000 square-foot warehouse was never retrofitted to meet the growing demand even before impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the aging warehouse to its extreme limits. According to the food bank’s latest Hunger Report, food insecurity rates last year ranged from 17 percent of the population in Arlington to 36 percent in Prince William County.
The new facility will enable the food bank to better meet that elevated need in the years to come. The larger and more flexible space will increase efficiency, both at the new location and across CAFB’s warehouses, and will allow the food bank to purchase more nutritious, local food from Northern Virginia farmers. The new distribution center also will allow for more opportunities for engaging with members of our community, through the addition of a volunteer center and more space for partner organizations to gather and to pick up food.
Community members can support this new building by going to CapitalAreaFoodBank.org/NOVA, where they can learn more about this critical investment and join our Building Brighter Futures Capital Campaign.
About the Capital Area Food Bank:
The Capital Area Food Bank works to address hunger today and create brighter futures tomorrow for more than a million people across the region experiencing food insecurity. As the anchor in the area’s hunger relief infrastructure, the food bank provided nearly 61 million meals to people in need last year by supplying food to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, including Martha’s Table, SOME – So Others Might Eat, DC Central Kitchen, Food for Others, Manna, and others. It also works in partnership with organizations across the region to address hunger’s root causes by pairing food with critical services such as education, health care, and job training. To learn more, visit https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/ or call (202.644.9864).