The Community Food Bank of San Benito County announced Friday it has been approved for $1.4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds that will go toward building a new distribution facility.
“I am so excited,” said Mary Anne Hughes, the executive director of the food bank, in a phone interview Friday.
Hughes, who became director of the local food bank in 2004, said she had applied for the grant through the City of Hollister in the last two years but that the application was denied because the city did not have a general plan in place – a legal requirement to qualify for the grants.
Other than the $1.4 million to go toward building a new facility, the grant also provides $200,000 in operational funding for staffing and operating hours.
Hughes said the organization had received a $150,000 line of credit from the Housing and Urban Development this year as a result of a push by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, in Congress. The bank leveraged that grant to receive a $500,000 loan from the Department of Agriculture, a loan she hopes the bank will not have to use in order to meet its fundraising goals.
She said the new facility will be built right behind the current facility, located in downtown Hollister off of San Felipe Road.
She said that because of the recession and loss of jobs in recent years, the need for services at the food bank has increased. She said she serves more than 1,200 families yearly and 5,000 individuals per week.
“There’s so much we can do by ourselves and still remain sane,” she said.
Because of the new grant, however, it should make it easier to provide services to the poor, she said.
The bank, which moved into its current facility in 2006, does not meet standard food safety regulations as of now, she said.
The new facility should be able to bring the organization into code – even though the CDBG grant does not include funds for a commercial kitchen, something she hopes will be added through additional fundraising.
“We need $255,000 more and we’re all set to go,” she said.
The bank is hosting a development capital campaign with a Mardi Gras party in February of next year in order to raise the extra funds. She hopes to raise more than $2 million in funding for the new facility, including the block grant.
“There’s so much we can do that we can’t do now,” she said.
