SALISBURY — Local legislators got a good look Monday afternoon at a bustling warehouse and loading dock dedicated to feeding the hungry during a tour of the soon-to-be fully operational Seacoast Regional Food Hub.
Our Neighbors’ Table first opened the 24,000-square-foot food market and storage facility on Bridge Road roughly three months ago. It includes 7,000-square feet of dry storage, as well as 3,000-square feet of cold storage.
Our Neighbors’ Table Communication Director Will Courtney said that while the hub is still a work in progress, over a million pounds of food have passed through the building over the past five months, with most of it coming from the Greater Boston Food Bank.
The facility also includes a Greater Boston Food Bank cross-dock that allows members to pick up deliveries in Salisbury, rather than going all the way into Boston.
“They are a giant operation and used to require a trip into the city with a truck,” Courtney said.
The hub can also accommodate dry, produce, freezer, as well as dairy refrigeration storage for up to 15 organizations.
It includes a food market, as well as office space for Our Neighbors’ Table.
Courtney said while construction is “just about done,” ONT is still working out logistics with some of the organizations in terms of contracts, insurance and training.
Monday afternoon, ONT Executive Director Lyndsey Haight hosted a tour of the facility for organization representatives and local lawmakers, including state Reps. Kristin Kassner, D-Hamilton, and Frank Moran, D-Lawrence, as well as state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. State Rep. Andy Vargas, D-Haverhill also sent a representative to the tour.
Haight said the food hub serves the Lower Merrimac Valley Food Coalition, which is a group of roughly 30 organizations that make up a food safety net across 17 cities and towns, including Andover, Salisbury and Rowley.
The leader of one of those organizations, Lisa Smith of Lawrence-based Neighbors in Need, said the food hub has been a game changer.
“It saves a huge amount of transportation and staff costs,” she said. “We used to spend between five and 10 hours a week going into Boston for food. Now, my guys go from Lawrence to Salisbury and back in an hour and a half.”
The food hub, Smith added, also helps Neighbors in Need with storage space.
“Our 2,000-square-foot warehouse space is no longer big enough,” she said. “So we now have additional space here.”
Haight said partners from the Lower Merrimack Valley Food Coalition have also been using the food hub to increase food supply through community surplus partners.
Representatives from the Lawrence-based Lazarus House Ministries, as well as Bradford’s Sacred Hearts Parish also took part in the tour.
Moran called the Salisbury facility “unbelievable.”
“They have an incredible operation here,” he said. “It’s really impressive to see what they do here.”
Kassner said seeing all the partners come together to make the Seacoast Regional Food Hub work was extraordinary.
“We see a lot of food pantries that are in the back of churches and people make do with what they have,” she said. “But, they’re utilizing the space so efficiently here. You really have to use every inch needed to be the best at serving people. I think it’s great.”
Our Neighbors’ Table is in the midst of a $7.8 million capital campaign to fully fund the food hub so it can operate the facility debt free. Haight said $5 million has been raised so far.
“Our guests say they save anywhere from $50 to $100 a week, just by coming to shop in our grocery stores,” she said.