Food Bank’s new building nearing opening date

Food Bank of Delaware is nearing the opening day for its new $34 million facility in Milford. The group has an eye on holding its first food distribution around Thanksgiving. 

The new, 67,000-square-foot facility broke ground in September, and on June 13, officials from the Food Bank and construction contractor Whiting-Turner took board members from the Harry K Foundation on a tour of the facility. 

The Food Bank and the Harry K Foundation have been longtime partners, joining forces with Perdue Farms to pass out chicken roasters for needy families every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Food Bank officials are hopeful to do this year’s Thanksgiving distribution at the new facility before the building opens to the public in December.

The Food Bank’s current facility in Milford is only 16,000 square feet, operating at 163% capacity. Food Bank Chief Development Officer Larry Haas said the Food Bank was originally going to move slower on expanding Milford, as the organization was already doing a large-scale expansion of its Newark facility. However, he said, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the equation with a massive increase in demand. That made the Food Bank rethink its strategy and accelerate the building of a new Milford facility. The Food Bank acquired the land adjacent to Milford Boys & Girls Club in July 2021.

“We knew it was going to have a long-term impact with an increase in demand, and an increase in population density in Kent and Sussex counties. Something had to happen sooner rather than later,” Haas said. 

Project Manager Jeff Chapin of Whiting-Turner said the campus will include its own food plots, a memorial garden area, an orchard, four greenhouses, walkways, a packing barn and a pavilion that can be used for farmers markets or events. 

The main building will feature a 5,000-square-foot volunteer room where food boxes will be packed, a small pantry/grocery store, a loading dock, a restaurant/cafe, a large refrigerator and freezer space, and a 35,000-square-foot warehouse. In addition, the facility will have its own industrial kitchen that will be used to prepare meals for the cafe and for training people in culinary skills. 

And that’s all just the first floor. The building will have a second floor that will contain office and meeting space for Food Bank staff.

“The idea is to bring all the same programming we have up in Newark down here,” Haas said. “We want it to be a community food bank.”