A pilot project getting going in Waynesboro this week could help the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and area food pantries get needed food items to distribute to local families hit hard by the economic downturn.
“I’m anxious to tell you your first skid is ready,” city recycling coordinator Lesa Osteen told Food Bank representatives Thursday morning at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an on-site food shed located at the Recycling Center on Sixth Street off North Delphine Avenue.
The shed will be a dropoff point for city residents to donate nonperishable food items to the Food Bank. The hours of operation will mirror the schedule at the recycling center – 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Food Bank salvage coordinator Mark Hackley said the hope is that the pilot project meets with success that will encourage the development of dropoff locations at recycling centers through the Food Bank Network that covers the Shenandoah Valley and a wide swath of Central Virginia.
“There are 34 recycling centers in the areas that we serve. If this works here and we can expand into more of those areas, this could be big for us,” Hackley said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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