Food bank shows off new digs

By CAILTIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell and his family spent part of Friday serving up cartons of food at the new Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank on Gravel Lake Road in Abingdon.
The soup kitchen isn’t normally open on Friday’s or when schools are closed, but volunteers started cooking at 11 a.m. preparing ham, mashed potatoes and green beans in anticipation of McDonnell’s arrival. Workers had sent out fliers the week before, letting people know its doors would be open. A few people did show up.
“Today’s special; today we do a lot that we don’t usually do,” said volunteer Carol Fuller.
She and her husband, Ron, go to Food Lion to pick up food Monday through Thursday for the soup kitchen. They get pastries from Starbucks three days a week, too.
“If it wasn’t for Food Lion, this kitchen couldn’t operate,” Ron Fuller said.
The new facility just about doubles the space Second Harvest had at its Russell Road location. Funding for the Gravel Lake Road spot came through a low-interest government loan. The kitchen opened in its doors in early December. It still hasn’t reached the numbers it was serving weekly at the Russell Road location. Volunteers say they’ve been dishing out about 100 meals a day, down from the 300 they used to serve.
The weather and the holidays play a role in the low numbers, volunteers said, but also people might not know where the food bank has gone. It used to get about 10 walk-ins a day. Now, though, out of the downtown area and with no public transit, those numbers have been shaved.
Gary Mitchell of Second Harvest Food Bank said he plans to work with Abingdon Transit in the hopes of persuading a bus to make a trip up the hill to the soup kitchen.
Still the new facility has improved Second Harvest by leaps and bounds.
“With the new facility and cooler units we can handle more perishable items,” Mitchell said. “Now we can take perishable items and have a place to put them ... and give agencies a better selection.”
Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank covers 11 counties and provides food and services to more than 100 agencies in Southwest Virginia.
Volunteer Janel Kent slices up the ham. She was laid off from Delta Airlines in June after spending 10 years with the company. She said being unemployed she wanted to find something to do with her time, that’s when she found Second Harvest. She’s been helping out in the kitchen several days a week since July.
“I’ve always wanted to volunteer,” Kent said. “It’s really a great opportunity. We have so many people unemployed and they need volunteers.”
For more information on Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank visit www.swvafoodbank.org or call (276) 628-9266.