A team of more than a dozen volunteers work the assembly line, packing up 35-pound boxes filled with cereal, peanut butter, milk and fruit for low-income seniors while construction crews install a massive 4,300-square-foot freezer that will soon be stocked with meat and other frozen foods.
Island Harvest Food Bank’s new 43,000-square foot warehouse in Melville, which will host its official grand opening Thursday, is nearly double the size of its former headquarters in Hauppauge, with additional office space for training programs, cooking demonstrations and computer training.
The $8.1 million facility on Spagnoli Road, which first opened early last year, is greatly needed in the community, officials said.
With inflation continuing to dig a deeper hole in the pockets of Long Islanders, and many still struggling with the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity is a growing problem in the region.
“The demand is going up and so the