Good Shepherd's Hampden plant renovation gets boost
Photo / Good Shepherd Food Bank
The new Good Shepherd Food Bank distribution center in Hampden, formerly owned by the Bangor Daily News, is being renovated.
Good Shepherd Food Bank’s renovation of the former Bangor Daily News printing and distribution center in Hampden got a boost March 12 with a $100,000 commitment from Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger.
Auburn-based Good Shepherd is renovating the distribution center to expand capacity and make distribution throughout Downeast and northern Maine more efficient.
The renovation will add 8,000 square feet of warehouse space to the original 36,000 of storage in the 40,000-square-foot building, not by increasing the size of the building, but by retrofitting what is there to change its purpose from newspaper distribution to food storage.
The food bank bought the building from the Bangor Daily News in October 2015, and started using it in January 2016. “[We] have only been using a small portion of the space and have not installed racking, etc. So the renovation will greatly expand our use of the building,” said Clara McConnell, director of public affairs for the food bank, in an email Wednesday.
In addition to installing racks for storage, temperature and humidity-controlled storage zones will be added, as well as a food inspection/sorting/packing area where volunteers will work and community meeting space. The food packing area will be named the Maine Credit Unions’ Food Packing Area, as part of the expanded partnership, the food bank said in a news release.
The project is expected to cost $4.25 million, and the organization is also paying off the building’s $750,000 mortgage, McConnell said.
A ceremonial groundbreaking May 23 will kick off the public phase of the capital campaign, but 13 corporate and foundation donors have already contributed to the project.
Kristen Miale, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, said in the news release that the limited capacity of the Auburn-based distribution is “the single greatest obstacle to meeting the food bank’s long-term goal of distributing 31 million meals annually — particularly with more healthy, fresh food acquired from Maine farmers.”
The renovation would add capacity to annually distribute 13 million pounds of food — the equivalent of 10.8 million meals, Miale said. “The new commitment from Maine’s credit unions provides a significant boost in our effort.
Maine Credit Unions Ending Hunger program raised a record $740,000 this year. Miale said that Maine’s credit unions “continue to be leaders in helping to end hunger in Maine, and are valued partners of the Food Bank and Mainers who struggle with hunger.”
Todd Mason, president of the Maine Credit Union League, said the new commitment “represents our shared vision of creating expanded access to food... We are excited to support initiatives that work towards the goal of ending hunger in Maine. We also recognize that the issue is less about there being enough food and more about getting the food to those who need it. This new distribution center will go a long way towards meeting that need, and we are thrilled to be a part of that.”
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