Expanding in the face of increased demand

Today's Washington Post covered the major expansion underway at the Capital Area Food Bank. The expansion is some rare good news for food security in the District, so we're thrilled to see it get some attention. Check it out:

The nonprofit food bank, the primary distribution center for the area's 700 food agencies, is constructing a 125,000-square-foot facility at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave. in Northeast Washington that will increase its capacity from 20 million pounds a year to 40 million. It is scheduled to open in 2010 and is expected to cost about $36 million. Officials said the capital campaign so far has raised $29.3 million in public and private funds.

The expansion of the CAFB comes at a time when the issue of food security is more pressing than ever before. Our Executive Director, George Jones, was on hand at the CAFB groundbreaking event, and he spoke to the crowd about the critical role that the Food Bank has played in the District for so many years.

George also noted - as the Washington Post reports in this article - that Bread for the City has seen over a 10% increase in monthly visits to our food pantries in the last few months. That's a startling spike, representing about 1,100 more people per month!

But (and this will be a theme of this blog as the economic turmoil continues to unfold over the coming months) Bread for the City, like the Capital Area Food Bank and our other partners in DC, is meeting this increased demand by redoubling our efforts and ramping up our capacities. We're just going to have to do more with less - and we will.

As a side note, on our blog's launch day, Matt challenged the CAFB to a building race. As of now, CAFB is officially ahead, but we think we can still win in the end. More updates as they happen.