HOPEWELL — The Hopewell Food Pantry officially opened the doors on its brand-new facility at West City Point Road and South 9th Avenue on Tuesday morning.
Previously located on West Broadway in downtown Hopewell, the food pantry was forced to relocate this year after the building it had rented for 33 years was sold. A consultant funded by a capacity-building grant from the Cameron Foundation also determined that a larger facility would be more desirable because of the quadrupling of the pantry’s clientele since the recession.
The new building, which is almost double the size of its prior home, was renovated using $30,000 in funds from the Cameron Foundation and the John Randolph Foundation. The city of Hopewell, the Capital Area Partnership Uplifting People, FeedMore, First Baptist Church of City Point and the federal Community Development Block Grant program also provided support for the project, and a group of six churches, Carraway Glass and the Appomattox River Women’s Club purchased 10 shopping carts for the facility.
United Way of Hopewell/Prince George and the Hopewell High School football team assisted the pantry with moving and cleanup of the old facility.
The new Hopewell Food Pantry began operations Aug. 3. It serves about 11,000 people per year, of whom about 60 percent are elderly, disabled or homeless.