Golden Harvest Food Bank hosted the ribbon-cutting for its new Produce Rescue Center, Thursday morning.
The new facility is a significant reconstruction of the food bank’s Faith Food Factory. Upgrades include some 7,000 square feet of space for offices, cold storage for fresh produce and a sorting and packing warehouse.
The center is the second phase of the food bank’s $10.3 million renovation project, launched in 2021 and seeded in part by $3.7 million in CARES Act funds via the Department of Community Affairs Grant. Phase 1 of the redevelopment, the distribution center and produce warehouse which sits across from the Produce Rescue Center, had its own ribbon-cutting last year.
Alongside officials such as State Rep. Karlton Howard, Sen. Harold Jones, Brennan Meagher with Mayor Garnett Johnson’s Office and Columbia County D.A. Bobby Christine, Golden Harvest invited leaders from some of its community partners to speak before the crowd during the ceremony.
Among these were Emma Sinkfield of Family Connection of Warren County, who called Golden Harvest “one of the greatest partner’s we’ve had,” and Doug Hammond, deacon at Macedonia Church of Grovetown, who called Golden Harvest “an oasis in the desert.”
Amy Breitmann, CEO of Golden Harvest, noted that the new Produce Rescue Center enabled the nonprofit to coordinate the distribution of 170,000 meals to 15,000 people on the Georgia and South Carolina coast affected by Hurricane Debbie, collaborating with American Red Cross, eight days before Thursday’s ribbon-cutting.
Volunteers with Food Lion Feeds, the charitable arm of the supermarket chain, were in attendance to sort the facility’s first round of meals to be allocated.
“Never before in our history would we have been able to offer the kind of storage and logistical assistance that sits behind you,” Breitmann said.
The Golden Harvest Produce Rescue Center is located at 3301 Commerce Drive.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
