This year will bring a major milestone in the Food Bank’s ability to serve the growing needs of our community, as we relocate our Solano County facility to the expanded warehouse space at 2370 North Watney Way in Fairfield (just a half-mile from our existing facility, next to the Jelly Belly Factory).
The Food Bank has grown dramatically over the past seven years, most recently in response to COVID-19, which brought shelter-in-place, staggering unemployment, a recession, remote learning and another unprecedented fire season. Despite utilizing four off-site storage sites beyond our existing warehouses in Concord and Fairfield, our facilities are bursting at the seams and we have occasionally been forced to decline large-scale food donations due to lack of cold storage space.
We are incredibly optimistic about the opportunities this move affords us. Our goal, as always, is to grow and serve our neighbors in need while we lead the fight to end hunger. -Joel Sjostrom, President and CEO
The new facility provides 104,000 square feet of office and warehouse space, versus our present space of 29,000. This expansion will allow us to continue our commitment to efficiently and safely meet the increased demand for food over the long haul. While record-setting need has helped drive the necessity for this move, record-setting donations and a strong financial forecast have paved the way to make it possible.
The coming months will be incredibly busy as our team works on permitting and constructing a large cold storage unit, installing racks, and building out office space and the Volunteer Center.
Join us for a volunteer shift in our new space today!
The dramatic increase in storage capacity will allow us to:
- Consolidate all off-site storage spaces for more efficient delivery and distribution.
- Provide 8,600 square feet of cold storage, which will allow us to accept considerably more perishable food donations.
- Keep ready-to-eat food and water on hand to improve our disaster response readiness.
- Enhance the volunteer experience with a brand-new Volunteer Center.
- Meet years-old capacity and expansion goals.
