Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Sept 9, 2024 – The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas invites you to the grand opening of our new volunteer center addition. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be September 17, from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM, located at 3414 One Place Drive, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72404.
The new volunteer center is a larger, dedicated space for community volunteers to work in the food bank with essential activities such as sorting food donations and packing food boxes for distribution. The new addition is critical to the food bank’s mission of fighting hunger and food insecurity in Northeast Arkansas. This addition will significantly increase the Food Bank’s capacity for volunteers and distribution.
Attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony will have the opportunity to help pack food boxes and take guided tours of the entire facility, including the new volunteer center. To register, click here.
Arkansas currently faces the highest rate of food insecurity in the nation. The Food Bank’s new volunteer center will enable the organization to use the warehouse more efficiently and make a greater impact in combating hunger.
In 2023, volunteers donated 1,828 hours at the food bank, according to Elizabeth Johnson, Donor Engagement Coordinator for the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas.
“We look forward to offering an improved experience for our numerous volunteers,” said Christie Jordan, CEO of the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas. “We had outgrown our previous volunteer space and were staging volunteer opportunities in our primary warehouse where our team members were receiving trucks, pulling orders, and driving forklifts. The new volunteer center is a dedicated space that will allow for larger groups to work in a safer environment. Volunteers are critical to our mission and are responsible for packing around 4,000 food boxes each month.”
The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas provides hunger relief to people in need by raising awareness, securing resources, and distributing food through a network of non-profit agencies and programs. The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas provides the equivalent of 132,000 meals each week to people facing hunger.
The Food Bank works in partnership with more than 180 non-profit partner agencies and programs in 12 counties in Northeast Arkansas. These counties include Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Jackson, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett, Randolph, St. Francis, and Woodruff. The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas is a member of Feeding America, a national network of food banks, in addition to being a founding member of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. For additional information, please visit our website www.foodbankofnea.org.