Food bank breaks ground at new facility

Banner Staff

The Greater Boston Food Bank broke ground last Wednesday at the 2.8-acre site of its new home — a 110,000-square-foot distribution center that will help the bank serve the growing number of hungry people in eastern Massachusetts.

Food Bank President and CEO Catherine D’Amato called the new building, which will be named the Yawkey Distribution Center, necessary “to meet the increasing demand for hunger-relief services.”

“The Greater Boston Food Bank is now providing food for twice the number of people as a decade ago without a significant change to our current facilities,” said D’Amato.

State and city representatives showed their support at the groundbreaking, hopeful that the new facility — which will double the bank’s current distribution to a capacity of 50 million pounds of food per year and offer expanded storage space for both dry and fresh goods — will be a boon to the more than 320,000 Massachusetts residents at risk of hunger.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray called the Food Bank’s service “invaluable,” and Mayor Thomas M. Menino promised the new facility “will become a vital and visible part of Boston.”

The new distribution center will be located on the site of the abandoned Boston incinerator at 70 South Bay Avenue, across the street from The Food Bank’s current location at 99 Atkinson Street. The building is scheduled for completion in late 2008 or early 2009.

The Food Bank has launched a $30 million capital campaign, titled “Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope,” to fund construction of the new facility. The campaign is already more than halfway to achieving its goal, having raised $17 million. The Yawkey Foundation, after which the center will be named, pledged a $3 million gift.