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Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott cuts the ribbon at the new Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Boxes of peanut butter are stored at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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The Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville, pictured Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Shelves holding pallets of canned food stored at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville, pictured Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Pallets of canned food shelved at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville can be seen Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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A commercial kitchen space at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville is shown Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Springville Mayor Matt Packard speaks at a ribbon-cutting for the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Shelves at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville are visible Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott speaks at a ribbon-cutting for the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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The freezer inside the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville, as seen Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a ribbon-cutting for the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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The Utah Food Bank hosted a ribbon cutting Thursday to celebrate the completion of a new food distribution center in Springville.

The Utah Food Bank Timpagnogos Distribution Center is more than 77,000 square feet and will service Utah County and central Utah.

The new Springville facility is part of a statewide effort from the food bank to increase the accessibility of its services and distribution. The organization also will be opening a distribution center in southeast Utah, expanding the Salt Lake and St. George centers and adding food pantries in the Navajo Nation and in Hurricane.

Sixty million pounds of food were distributed by the Utah Food Bank last year, with 22% of that going to 11 counties in central Utah, according to data presented at the event. In Utah, o1e in 10 children faces hunger, with 1 in 8 children in central Utah facing hunger.

“What we learned during COVID was we couldn’t do it from one location,” said Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott during the event. “We had to be strategic, we had to be effective and we had to be efficient.”

The distribution center will serve 11 counties — Utah, Wasatch, Millard, Juab, Sanpete, Carbon, Sevier, Emery, Grand, Piute and Wayne.

Springville Mayor Matt Packard spoke at the event, thanking the Utah Food Bank for its work and celebrating the center’s “visibility” to the community due to its location right on Interstate 15.

“It (the Utah Food Bank) is an expanding organization that’s going across many, many territories,” the mayor said. “And it’s a reflection of the need in our community to be able to help many people who are less fortunate.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox joined the celebration and spoke, telling the audience not to forget those who are struggling when they personally aren’t struggling.

“When I go to the store, I buy what I want and what I need,” he said. “And then I move on, and it hasn’t always been like that in my life.”

The main warehouse space has nine rows of shelving able to hold hundreds of pallets of food. Some shelves already contained foods with pallets of canned foods and boxes of peanut butter lining the shelves. The facility also features 7,144 square feet of freezer and refrigerator space.

While giving a tour of the facility, program director Matt Anderson showed spaces the center will utilize to make “senior boxes,” which are packaged boxes that volunteers put together and deliver to aging citizens.

Anderson said they believe there are significantly more seniors in need in central Utah who the food banks have not been able to reach yet. He said they are hoping to soon start a similar program for home-bound adults with disabilities.

The distribution center also is equipped with a commercial kitchen space that, once the details are worked out, can be used to make hot meals for children’s after-school programs.

On the west side of the building is a bay for the center to accept donations from the community that will be open during business hours.

According to the food bank, the distribution center will add 12 jobs, with hopefully more jobs to be created, and provide volunteer opportunities for the community.

For those interested in volunteering, information can be found at utahfoodbank.org.

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