MILFORD, Del. - Food donations and life skills all in one place? The new Food Bank of Delaware will bring the two together and then some just down the street from the current one.
Going from a 16,000 square-foot facility, to an over 60,000 square-foot facility.
A new Food Bank in Milford is officially under construction to provide to the growing community with cooking and logistic classes.
President and CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware, Cathy Kanefsky, said, "We'll give them not just the opportunity to learn how to cook but it'll also give them the opportunity to learn the business skills of actually running a business and it'll all be here. It'll be right here."
The participants will also have a chance to put their skills to the test with an on-site cafe and 3.5 acre garden. This facility will also implement home delivery to make donations more accessible to those working or without a car.
Construction is already underway for the new facility. The facility is expected to be three times larger than the one currently down the street. And that is to combat issues that they came across during the pandemic.
"They were finding themselves needing us for the first time. I think at the same time the people that have always needed us might not have known we were here so we saw a surge in people that needed us and needed food right? And so we were in a position to ramp up our efforts and we saw our distribution double, more than double in that year." said Kanefsky.
Maritza Figueroa, a student in the current Milford Food Bank cooking program, says it helps her maintain a healthy plant based diet.
"I mean I've learned about so many different kinds of vegetables here that I didn't even know about yet. So of course it's going to help me because now I can go home and introduce this to not only myself but to my family." said Figueroa.
The Food Bank is expected to be completed by November of 2023.