Cultivate, the South Bend-based food rescue nonprofit, welcomed the public to its new cold storage facility with an open house Thursday.
Local food pantries say the timing couldn’t be better.
Like a lot of ribbon cuttings, Thursday’s Open House at Cultivate’s new cold storage facility on Prairie Avenue in South Bend drew an enthusiastic crowd of local dignitaries and elected officials. But the people who distribute the food at area pantries were especially excited.
Having a dedicated facility to store perishable food marks a big milestone for Cultivate, which has doubled in size each year since launching in 2016 as a way to repackage and distribute extra food to people in need. The 22,000-square foot facility will let Cultivate rescue 20 million pounds of perishable food a year, 10 times more than what it now rescues.
That will mean healthier food available more often. Scott Hickey turned out for the event. He runs Gymtown Pantry in Elkhart County. Hickey said he gives food out to more than 500 families a month from a building on his own property, and he’s looking for a separate site in Elkhart.
With rising grocery prices and a slumping RV industry, he’s seeing more need than ever.
"People that are used to working five days a week, 50 weeks a year, they're down to three days a week, some of them 40 weeks a year," Hickey said. "So they're in danger of losing their house, losing their cars, they can't feed their families, and we're able to get food directly to the people who are directly affected by the RV slowdown."
