First day of construction for our new cooler!
Have you heard about our Cooler Campaign? We are in the process of building a 1,000 square foot cooler and freezer space that will allow us to triple the amount of local food we are able to deliver to local schools, restaurants, hospitals, independent grocery stores, and other businesses.
The fundraising campaign is off to a great start. Our goal is to raise $200k and, so far, we secured $150k through grant funding and an additional $20k from community members. We are closing in on the remaining $30k and are looking to the community to fill the gap. A huge THANK YOU is certainly in order.
As for the cooler—there is a lot of noise, the sweet sound of progress, from the space adjacent to our offices. The cooler box is built, the refrigeration units are installed. Most of the electrical is complete and the whole unit still needs to be tested. The floors are as good as new—they were ground to remove chipped paint, flattened and repaired, and then densified and sealed for protection and long life.
McKenna Hayes, our Operations Manager, is excited about the motion detector high efficiency LEDs lights that are now installed—making her job much easier. A new electric sliding door will be installed to make it easy to go in and out—as well as a roll up door for the exterior. We plan to add innovative remote entry for farms and others to drop or pick up product after hours with a full audit trail.
Our fire notifiers our installed, but we’re still waiting on sprinklers. Really? Sprinklers in a freezer? Frozen food is flammable? Call the fire marshall! Just kidding! Safety for our staff, the food, and neighbors at the BDCC Business Park is a top priority.
We are so excited for the construction to be complete, but the project will certainly not be over. We will have to move our inventory into the new space and develop new delivery, receiving, and safety procedures to ensure that we can get the food to community members in the same reliable fashion we have been.
Looking to learn more about or support the project? Contact us today!