Statesboro-based charitable nonprofit The Food Bank Inc. and supporters are scheduled to break ground at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 27, for a new $2 million, permanent food pantry with a kitchen and dining hall at the corner of Northside Drive West and Miller Street.
Half of the total expected project cost is being supplied by Bulloch County and Statesboro city governments from pandemic-era federal recovery funds. From Statesboro’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funding, the mayor and council dedicated $500,000 for the project, and likewise, the Bulloch County commissioners committed $500,000 from the county’s ARPA funds, for a total of $1 million government cash toward the congressionally authorized purpose of addressing “food insecurity.”
“These funds have laid the foundation for the Food Bank's ambitious new building project,” Sheila Stewart-Leach, The Food Bank Inc. executive director, said in a media release. “We were able to acquire a prime, accessible location on West Northside Drive with roughly $760,000 remaining in the fund for the development and construction of the new facility.”
Acting on behalf of Food Bank Inc., the city purchased the 3.75-acre site, in the triangle bounded by Miller and West Parrish Streets and Northside Drive, for $240,000 one year ago from previous owners Mark Holzman and Walter Holzman.
Besides the remaining $760,000 from ARPA money, Statesboro’s Food Bank has raised about $145,000 in “generous contributions from individuals, businesses, foundations, agencies and corporations,” and so has $905,000 in its “new building fund” for the construction, Stewart-Leach reports.
But the project cost for the planned 12,000-square-foot facility, after the land acquisition and about $180,000 of in-kind contributions, is budgeted at $1,600,729. So to see the building completed, The Food Bank Inc. faces a $696,000 “funding gap,” which it “aims to bridge through an aggressive educational campaign,” to donors and other funding sources, she said.
The building, to be constructed by Pearce Building systems, with Wesley Parker of Parker Engineering as consulting engineer and Frank D’Arcangelo of DPR Architecture as consulting architect, will include a 6,500-square-foot warehouse for the food pantry and a 5,500-square-foot public area. Four Georgia Southern University interior design students contributed concept studies for the project
The warehouse is planned to include two walk-in freezers and two walk-in coolers with a backup generator, as well as an office for the pantry manager.
The public area will include two classrooms, other offices and a kitchen and dining hall, as well as a reception area for clients.
Stewart-Leach, speaking to Statesboro City Council in a work session last week, displayed the floor plans for the facility and projected October as the potential move-in time for the warehouse, November for the public area and January as the possible month for a grand opening.
Planning in earnest for a permanent facility began after the Bulloch County Board of Education in March 2021 contracted the sale of a large portion of the old Julia P. Bryant School facility, where the Food Bank has operated for the past nine years, to the developer of a seniors apartment complex.
Key personnel
One condition in the city’s and county’s spring 2022 memorandum of understanding for the $1 million funding was that the Food Bank hire an executive director. Officials such as Statesboro City Manager Charles Penny said the new director would lead in efforts for constructing the facility, applying for grants, fundraising and managing relationships.
Stewart-Leach, previously curator for the Averitt Center for the Arts and a consultant to museums and other nonprofits, was hired for the Food Bank executive director’s role, and began work in January.
Jodi Brannon – whose father the late Joe Bill Brannon carried out the local food pantry’s mission for many years – continues as operations manager, overseeing the day-to-day work of coordinating volunteers, receiving donated food and issuing it to people in need.
To donate
For updates on the Food Bank’s building campaign, follow its Facebook page, Statesboro Food Bank News. Interested donors can also join the online campaign at www.givebutter.com/foodbankbuildingfund or text "HungerHurts" to 53555 to contribute. Cash or check donations can be mailed to the Food Bank at P.O. Box 543, Statesboro, GA 30459.
For additional information on ways to contribute, contact Sheila Stewart-Leach at directorsborofoodbank@gmail.com. Those interested in volunteering can contact Jodi Brannon at 912-489-3663.