Brazos Valley Food Bank holds grand opening at new facility

The Brazos Valley Food Bank offered tours to community members to see the new facility.

The organization that helps feed tens of thousands of individuals each year has officially finished its new distribution site recently and welcomed the public to see the different spaces they use.

"It’s been a long project. Now we’ve been operating out of it for a little while, but really I can say everything is complete now," said executive director Theresa Mangapora.

It was a bit of a homecoming for Michael Stecher on Wednesday.

"It's been awhile since I've been out to the food bank and I wanted to see what it was like and I'm really, really impressed," said Stecher.

He was a founding board member for the organization.

"A long time ago, the food bank was maybe as big as the room we're standing in right now. There was no freezer capacity. There were just some shelves. It's just an impressive growth that the community's been fortunate to see," said Stecher.

As the need has grown, so has the facility. People were able to tour the volunteer center, warehouse, giant freezer, and new community garden.

"This building allows us to not have to turn away donations and not turn away volunteers so honestly it could be endless of things we could do. It has five times more fresh and frozen capacity. We can utilize four times as many volunteers as we could before and in general we can have twice as much food," said Mangapora.

Mangapora said with the expansion, she hopes to see their other programs continue to thrive.

"Our programs that are beyond just giving out food to organizations have really grown quite a bit. I’d like to see that continue. I’d like to see us move in some innovative directions to prevent people from having hunger from the get go," said Mangapora.

If you missed your chance for a tour on Wednesday you can sign up on the food bank's website for a free tour.