- Last Updated on Saturday, 02 July 2016 18:43
Greater Washington County Food Bank (GWCFB) will be having an open house on Saturday, July 16, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon.
This open house is in celebration of the grand opening of their new headquarters, distribution warehouse and UPMC training center on Route 40 in West Brownsville. Tours of the new facility will be offered throughout the event and a free lunch will also be available for those in attendance.
Greater Washington County Food Bank relocated its facility in October 2015 to the former Country Fresh Market on Route 40 West in Brownsville. The facility’s 24,500 square feet of modern warehouse space with five loading docks replaces the food bank’s leased warehouse in Eighty Four, PA that had only 9,500 square feet of space and a single loading dock. An added feature of the “nearly new” nine year old facility also includes 21 acres of pastureland - - providing “green space” for garden and orchard programs to be developed in collaboration with volunteers and organizations in the future.
Greater Washington County Food Bank feeds more than 5,400 households each month and in 2015 distributed more than 2,000,000 pounds of food. Part of the mission of the GWCFB is to educate their clients and others in the community on long-term life strategies to combat food insecurity and the impact it creates.
In an effort to perform this part of their mission and through a generous grant from Pennsylvania Neighborhood Assistance Tax Credit Program and UPMC, GWCFB has constructed a 1,200-square-foot training center with two residential training kitchens and a classroom teaching area. The UPMC training center will offer hands-on classes to their clients and the public on topics such as cooking, food preservation, gardening and canning. GWCFB is also establishing partnerships with local organizations that will allow them to offer training classes for personal and professional development of their clients and the general public.
The opening of a thrift store on the property is also underway to help offset the expenses of the food bank. Volunteers are greatly needed at this time to sort and pack food in the distribution warehouse as well as cleaning, sorting and organizing items for the thrift store. For more information regarding the open house or the Greater Washington County Food Bank, visit their website at www.GWCFB.org or contact the donor relations coordinator at 724 632-2190 x 114, or email donorrelations@gwcfb.org.
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