Above, second from right: John Flemming - Southern Carolina Development Alliance, Chief Operations Officer. Osborne and Weathers cut the ribbon to officially open the Lowcountry Food Bank Southern Regional Food Center in Early Branch
Lowcountry Food Bank (LCFB) held a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new Southern Regional Food Center in Early Branch, SC, to officially open the facility on Friday, May 2.
Lowcountry Food Bank (LCFB) in 2022 secured land on the Agriculture Technology Campus (ATC) in Hampton, South Carolina to build a 20,000 square foot facility. The building is strategically positioned to serve neighbors in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper Counties and provide opportunities for increased engagement, scale and capacity-sharing for our partner agencies, who distribute almost 90% of the food that Lowcountry Food Bank procures.
The facility has warehouse capacity to store dry and refrigerated food, enable frozen storage, and includes loading docks, a teaching kitchen, and offices. There is ample volunteer and meeting space for LCFB partners to use. The new facility will enable expansion of LCFB food programs in the area.
In addition to increasing efficiencies among LCFB's other two Food Centers in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, the new facility will serve as a hub for LCFB partners, providing an improved experience for food pickup, opportunities to convene through increased coordination, collaboration and shared learning in the Food Lion Feeds teaching kitchen and conference areas.
"The need to serve our neighbors in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties continues to grow as our neighbors face uncertainties in their lives," said Nick Osborne, Lowcountry Food Bank President and CEO. "In these southern-most counties we serve, almost 12% of the population experiences food insecurity every day, which equates to more than 32,000 neighbors in these counties alone, which means they may not know how they will put food the table. Osborne said "unfortunately, of this food-insecure population, more than 18% of children experience food insecurity, which equates to more than 9,500 children in these counties - almost 1 in 5."
"It is with these aspirations for our neighbors that we officially open today our Lowcountry Food Bank Southern Regional Food Center." -- Nick Osborne, Lowcountry Food Bank President and CEO
"No adult wants to worry about whether they have access to food, or worry whether they must choose between eating and paying a bill or rent, going to the doctor or buying gas so they can get to work," said Osborne. "The neighbors we serve have aspirations and dreams. We all want to live healthy and thriving lives. But often, through no fault of their own, hard-working neighbors need consistent access to healthy foods, like protein, dairy products, and fresh produce so they can stay engaged in their communities. It is with these aspirations for our neighbors that we officially open today our Lowcountry Food Bank Southern Regional Food Center."
The new Lowcountry Food Bank Regional Food Center in Early Branch was built by Brunson Construction, with GBA Architecture and support from the South Carolina Community Loan Fund and Forvis Mazars.
In attendance were several LCFB Board members, representatives of SC and county elected officials, the Southern Carolina Development Alliance, LCFB donors, local LCFB partner agencies, community partners, and LCFB staff members.