March 2007 Update

March is passing quickly and so far all of the news for the Food Bank is positive.

We’re dealing with construction in Alabama, possible construction in Florida and expansion of child nutrition programs in Alabama and Mississippi.

Our Board of Directors reviewed the building expansion project at the March 6th Board meeting and approved the funding of the addition via a loan while also selecting the company that will build the addition. Thanks to a complex financing transaction we will be able to wrap our existing mortgage and the expansion project together at a rate which results in payments only slightly above our current mortgage. This project will allow us to do a better job in handling more product without a large increase in operating costs. It will also provide the space for our disaster/kids café kitchen so we can provide prepared food here rather than rent space elsewhere.

If you’ve looked over the web site you know we have a small leased Branch facility in Pace Florida which supports the four Florida counties that are part of our designated service area. Our long range plans called for development of a warehouse of our own, sized to meet our needs. The need for a facility has been pressed forward by notification that the owners may sell the building we now occupy. We’ve been in discussion with Santa Rosa County officials to identify and purchase land for a facility to replace the leased warehouse. We hope to have the details locked in shortly so we can develop the cost estimates for construction of a west Florida Branch that will meet the areas day to day needs as well as the disaster support needs. This means increased refrigerated and frozen capacity, easier access from Interstate 10, emergency power and a structure capable of sheltering staff in severe storms so they are ready to serve immediately after a storm passes.

Child Nutrition Programs continue to be an active issue. The Alabama Department of Education contacted us in February about the potential loss of one of last year’s big summer lunch sponsors to see if we could expand to fill a portion of the gap the sponsor will leave. We can’t fill all the needs so we’ll be working to identify the most critical sites, those with the poorest access to other sites, to help as best we can this year. Our big limiting factor is the production capacity of the kitchen we use at the Abby Berg Senior Center, solved next year with our new kitchen. Meanwhile, we’ve submitted our sponsorship packet to the Mississippi Department of Education and expect to become fully active as a Child and Adult Care Feeding Program sponsor in Mississippi the first of April. This designation allows us to get partial reimbursement for program costs with our after school program, reducing the amount of donated funds needs to expand and take care of more children.

That’s it for March.