MAHONING VALLEY Food bank celebrates donated headquarters

Second Harvest spent $400,000 to renovate its new building.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Second Harvest Foodbank will celebrate the grand opening of its new facility Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m.
The new location of Second Harvest, formerly housed in a rented building at 1122 E. Midlothian Blvd., is 2805 Salt Springs Road, at the intersection of Salt Springs and Ameritech Drive.
The 16,000-square-foot, 11-year-old warehouse, with an appraised value of $615,000, was donated to the organization by Dr. Jacques Politi and his family. It formerly housed Airborne Express.
After spending nearly $400,000 to renovate and adapt the building for its new use, the food bank moved into it earlier this year. Some of the preparatory work included installing a new freezer and cooler and bringing the building up to code for a food-distribution operation.
Organization's mission
Second Harvest Foodbank provides food to 200 member agencies, such as church pantries, soup kitchens, shelters for battered women, homeless shelters and adult and child day-care centers, that feed hungry people in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
In 2003, the food bank distributed 4.1 million pounds of food in the tri-county area and provided about 3.5 million meals. The food bank is feeding about 15,000 people each month. The need for emergency food was up 32 percent in 2003, and one in four people in line for a meal at soup kitchens was a child, said Michael Iberis, food bank executive director.
The food bank has seven full-time and eight part-time employees. At this time in 2003, Second Harvest was distributing 20,000 pounds of food each month. Currently, it is distributing 26,000 pounds per month.
"We have increased distribution of food by 1 million pounds per year over the past two years," said Rebecca Martinez, director of resource development.
alcorn@vindy.com