New food bank opens doors in Wilmington, receives large donation to help kickstart operations

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A recent donation helped stock the shelves of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina’s newest facility, the nCino Hunger Solution Center.

Over the weekend, the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina opened it’s doors to their brand new facility on Greenfield Street, a larger facility that they plan to use to accommodate more donations.

Approximately 40,000 pounds of food were donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a much needed donation to get the food bank off the ground.

A full truck of food can transfer about 38,000 meals, and although that may seem like a lot, the church said that when you look at all of the people who are in need, they can always use more.

“The need is so great this year, we’ve really been paying close attention to what the need is. It’s just absolutely astronomical with the economy the way it is, and people are just suffering. So we are just trying to do whatever we can to alleviate their suffering that is there and make it a little easier for people,” said Rosemary Abrams, communication director for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The need for food banks has increased in recent years due to several factors, including natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the recent surge is from people losing or having their SNAP benefits reduced back in February.

Many people who were previously able to provide for themselves and their families have now found themselves struggling to make ends meet and food banks have become a vital resource for them.

The new facility at 1000 Greenfield Street in Wilmington was designed to help a larger sum of people and the staff is thrilled to have finally opened the doors.

“We’ve been working at this effort to bring a new food bank to the Cape Fear region for four years. So to see it come to life is incredible. It’s extraordinary, I don’t even have words. It just gives me so much hope for what the future of food insecurity in the Cape Fear region will look like,” said Beth Gaglione, regional director of Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

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