The River Food Pantry held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new $10.7 million location on Packers Avenue on Thursday before officially opening on Friday.
The new 32,500 square-foot location can hold 100 pallets of food versus the previous location’s 30, and there is more space for cold food storage, more loading docks and even more bathrooms, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
The facility also has what might be one of the largest electrical commercial kitchens in the area.
“Food insecurity is on the rise, whether we want to think it is or not,” Rhonda Adams, the pantry’s executive director, told the newspaper during a tour. “There’s a lot of people in Dane County that need a little help. Food is a basic need and a basic right and we’re here to be able to provide that to people.”
The pantry distributed 3 million pounds of food last year and had nearly 406,000 visits.
A grand opening celebration is set for June 4, the 20th anniversary of the pantry’s founding.
