“It feels very unreal” Henrico Community Food Bank opens new facility

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Henrico County Community Food Bank reached a milestone on Saturday.

The food bank is moving into its first facility.

Volunteers spent the morning putting up shelves and organizing their new space located on Hartman St. in Henrico.

“It feels very unreal. What an incredible, incredible feeling it is to see this all actually coming together,” Food Bank Executive Director Sudeshna Das-Menezes said.

“What once served as Central Gardens School will now transform, Into what we hope is going to be our administrative center, a place where volunteers can come in to help with deliveries, to help pick orders, a place where folks can come in to drop off food,” she said.

Das-Menezes says they’ve been distributing meals by car since they began services back in December 2021.

Das-Menezes says the new facility will help them provide more services throughout all of Henrico.

“Since that time, it’s been non-stop. It’s been hitting the ground running,” she said.

Das-Menezes says the current food insecurity rate in Henrico County is over 9%.

She says they’re serving nearly 10-12 families per day, and she expects that number to increase as emergency covid-19 snap benefits have recently expired.

“We’ve already started seeing an increase in the number of calls we get, and I foresee that to be on the rise. You know the demand for services is going up,” she said.

It’s a growing demand they’re preparing to meet, so no one goes without a meal.

“Let’s make this happen. Let Henrico have its own food bank. That is the ultimate goal for us,” Das-Menezes said.

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