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More than an estimated 150,000 Hudson Valley residents are struggling to put food on the table this holiday season, according to the national nonprofit Feeding America. On Tuesday, News 12 got an exclusive first look at a new food bank in Orange County that aims to help.
“We estimate that about 11% of Hudson Valley residents are food insecure,” says Felicia Kalan, executive vice president of the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. “To meet that growing need, we work with USDA, Nourish New York, and local retailers to bring food in that’s been rescued.”
The Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley will begin to move into their new 50,000-square-foot facility on Route 416 in Montgomery this week after more than 18 months of construction and expects to be fully operational in the space by January.
“We are slowly going to move our product over. This is a project that’s long coming to meet the growing need of food insecurity in the Hudson Valley,” Kalan says. “We are really excited.”
The building cost $22.5 million to build and was funded through several state grants, as well as business and community donations, and recently received $30,000 from Resorts World casino for a new food delivery truck. It will provide food to roughly 1,000 food pantries in six Hudson Valley counties – including Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan and Putnam – and give food directly to residents through their programs for children and seniors.
The facility is twice the size of their current headquarters in Cornwall. Kalan says they need the additional space to serve a growing number of working families and seniors in the Hudson Valley who need help.
“We had to do this to meet the growing need,” says Kalan.
For more information on the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, their programs and participating food pantry locations visit their website at regionalfoodbank.net.
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