Food Bank buys land for new distribution facility

COLONIE — The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York said Wednesday it has finalized the purchase of land in the Orange County village of Montgomery for its new distribution facility. Food Bank officials say their current satellite facility in Cornwall-on-hudson can no longer adequately accommodate the growing demand to provide food to those in need in the Hudson Valley.

With the help of a Community Development Block Grant, the Food Bank will construct a 40,000-square-foot distribution center, which will provide increased capacity to obtain, store and distribute food to six Hudson Valley counties. It will allow the Food Bank to improve access by delivering 20 million pounds of food to benefit about 179,000 families and children currently receiving its assistance.

The center will be built on land once owned by Nick Fitzpatrick of Aden Brook Agricultural LLC, whose gift of $645,000 will support the project. Fitzpatrick said the land historically has been used as a farm and he’s happy it can continue to provide food to those in need for many years.

The Food Bank is seeking funds to finish the project. Contributions can be made online at foodbankofhudsonvalley.org or mailed to the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley at 195 Hudson St., Cornwall-on-hudson, NY 12520.

A groundbreaking is planned for early May.

“This is an exciting step forward in improving our ability to serve the needs of our food insecure neighbors in the Hudson Valley,” Regional Food Bank CEO Molly Nicol said.

“We are grateful to the entire team who are working so hard to make this vision a reality.”