A group of shovel turners gather Friday for the Central California Food Bank's South Canopy expansion groundbreaking. It will allow the organization to better serve its Groceries2Go clients, referred to as neighbors. Photo by Ben Hensley

The Central California Food Bank (CCFB) held a groundbreaking Friday for the expansion of its Groceries2Go and South Canopy enhancement projects in Fresno, working to expand the distribution of food to more families facing food insecurity.

The expansion will provide an additional 10,000 square feet of food storage space, and will also enclose the food bank’s loading docks allowing for expedited food delivery as well as protection from the elements.

The California State Legislature approved the funds for the project in 2021. Construction is expected to begin next week and will be completed within four to six months, according to co-Ceo Kym Dildine.

“For the time being, we’re kind of relocating where neighbors get their services,” Dildine said. “For Groceries2Go — this was so successful at this location that we actually have ten additional satellite sites; for the time being, neighbors are being referred to those additional sites as well as our other programming.”

 

Dildine added that CCFB has over 500 different feeding opportunities accessible to the community.

“While the programming looks a little bit different at different locations, we really try to ensure that neighbors can have access at other locations during this time,” Dildine added.

CCFB started the Groceries2Go program as an online-reservation grocery pickup service that allows users to reserve a time to select both perishable and nonperishable food items from the food bank free of charge. The program was started in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued expanding in the following years.

To date, the CCFB has moved more than 6 million pounds of food through its original Groceries2Go facility — a converted shipping container that sits underneath a covered awning space at CCFB’s facility.

The expansion will not only fully enclose the space currently home to the Groceries2Go program, but will expand storage allowing for a wider selection of perishable and nonperishable goods at the food bank.

The CCFB’s Groceries2Go program serves around 100 families per day.

“Right now we’re pretty limited; the walls have been lined with refrigerated merchandisers, but they only have so much stuff and so much storage capacity,” Dildine said. “We’re building out bigger refrigerated units plus the merchandisers which allows us to provide larger volumes of the products that our neighbors actually tell us that they need the most.”

CCFB distributes food to approximately 300,000 people each month, providing 46 million pounds of food annually, half of which is fresh produce. For more information about CCFB and their programs, as well as sites that will assist the Groceries2Go program during the construction, visit the CCFB website.