Suburban food bank expansion underway
The Montgomery County Food Bank has started work on a $6.5 million expansion of its facility to accommodate more produce, volunteers and record-high demand.
The food bank emerged as the sixth largest food bank in Texas when it moved to its 60,000square-foot facility in southwest Conroe in 2014. The renovation will expand its facility by nearly 18,000 square feet and help the nonprofit serve 5,000 additional families per month.
“To me, (the 2014 move) reminded me of when a five-yearold boy is trying on his dad’s shoes, and that whole feeling of going, ‘How can my foot ever grow to fit this shoe? It just seems impossible,’” board member Jim Wolf said. “Well, a lot has changed in 10 years.’”
Filling more needs
The food bank served an average of more than 80,000 individuals per month in 2023 — a 23 percent increase from 2022, which president Kristine Marlow attributes to countywide growth, inflation and supply chain issues that have lingered since the pandemic.
More than 8 million meals were distributed to the food bank’s 80 partner agencies and county residents in 2023.
“While the county has grown, so has the need, and an increasing number of people in our community experience food insecurity,” Wolf said. “These people include many of our elderly citizens, our veterans, children and entire working families who are living on the margin.”
More room for produce
Although the food bank has the capacity to collect and distribute more than 40 million pounds of food per year, it doesn’t have adequate space for its growing selection of fresh produce. That’s why expanding cold storage within its produce rescue center is a focal point for the expansion, Marlow said.
Since its inception in 2017, the center has kept 20 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables out of landfills by receiving surplus and unsellable produce from partners, residents and local farmers.
Fresh produce now accounts for 40 percent of all food distributed by the nonprofit, Marlow said. Updates will allow the food bank to rescue more than 110,000 pounds of fresh produce per month.
“Food banks across the country are turning their methods of accepting, processing and distributing fresh produce into the community in a more intentional way,” Marlow said. “When you have fresh produce, that will feed your body and your other health factors are going to be better off too.”
Bigger volunteer center
The nonprofit will also expand its volunteer center and event space to accommodate more than 80 volunteers at a time. Other updates include a new welcome center, which will move the food bank’s entrance away from its current location between loading docks and a fleet of trucks, as well as expanded parking.
“Our community has rallied around us,” Marlow said. “We currently post over 700 volunteers a month, but we expect to increase that significantly as we increase our ability to source, process and distribute food out to the community.”
The food bank has raised just under $5 million of the estimated $6.5 million needed to complete the project. Local companies, including Huntsman, Woodforest National Bank and Howard Hughes helped fund the Build Today, Feed Tomorrow program, which also received funding from the Texas legislature and American Rescue Plan Act.
“This expansion project is an example of how we can unite to make a difference and fight hunger,” Howard Hughes Houston president and food bank board member Jim Carman said.
The food bank broke ground Tuesday at 1 Food For Life Way near The Woodlands. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.