The Southeast Missouri Food Bank will soon move its distribution center to Sikeston at the site of an old RV showroom. The food bank is renovating the 64,000 square foot building with a one million dollar grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health.
SEMO Food Bank executive director Karen Green said the current distribution center on Nash Road near Cape Girardeau is crowded.
“We’re about to triple the amount of space that we have and it will allow us to access more food and to be able to operate more efficiently. So it will be an exciting thing,” Green said.
The food bank serves about 50,000 people per month throughout 18 counties. The distribution center will send food to the many food pantries, soup kitchens and other agencies that provide food for those in need.
“Poverty and hunger are not going to go away overnight,” Green said. “We need a better place to be able to address the problem. This really positions us for the future to be able to continue to serve the public and acquire more food and distribute it.”
At least $200,000 of the grant money must be used for improvements at the food bank’s partners. Bill Allen is the director of the Flame Of Hope food pantry in East Prairie. He would like to use some of those funds for a walk-in refrigerator.
“We don’t have a lot of refrigeration to hold fresh fruit and vegetables and stuff. If we get in any of that stuff, we have to give it out right now,” Allen said.
Allen’s food pantry serves about 275 families per month. He said they are seeing more people in search of the pantry’s service. Four new families showed up on Thursday.
“It’s just ongoing and the way the economy is in the area, there’s no jobs here really,” Allen said. “We’re going to see more and more.”
Last year nearly 6 million pounds of food passed through its doors.