CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — On Wednesday, the team at The Coastal Bend Food Bank cut a ribbon and opened its doors at a new location on Bear Lane.
The president of the Coastal Bend Food Bank Bea Hanson said she believes the bigger food bank will make a huge impact on the Coastal Bend.
"We finally are officially open! This has been a dream that we have had for years, probably since the hurricane we just never had enough space," Hanson said.
Hanson said Coastal Bend Food Bank's new location is five times larger than the old one.
"We have freezer space, we have cooler space, and we will be able to access the kinds of foods that people need to prepare meals, to stay healthy, for children to grow, in the way that they are supposed to," Hanson said. "To serve the community that has been so responsive and loving to the food bank."
President of the Board of Directors of The Coastal Bend Food Bank Matt Manning said the new building of the food bank will hopefully bring more support.
"The proximity to the neighborhood and West Oso right here. One of the beauties of community building is that we do it together so the idea that the Coastal Bend Food Bank is right next to West Oso High School is just a natural cross-pollination," Manning said.
Manning said the Coastal Bend Food Bank solely focuses on its one mission.
"The beauty of the food bank’s mission is what I tell people all the time; there is no politics, there is no pretense, there are no backroom meals. There is no 'I am doing this for some other reason you can’t see'," Manning said. "It is purely our brothers and sisters in our community. If you need food we have it, so come through we got you."
Hanson said The Coastal Bend Food Bank has been serving its community for over 42 years and a while back they noticed there was a bigger need.
"I have been here 26, to almost 27 years, so it took that long for us to realize that. With the hurricane, with the pandemic, with the freeze — it was one emergency after another, so the need for food was out there," Hanson said.
Hanson said with the new facility the food bank will now be prepared to respond in a way that is necessary.
