1 of 2

Employees at Metrolina’s Second Harvest Food Bank unload food donations given to the organization by more than a dozen businesses.

Second Harvest partners who helped build the new freezer and the foods that fill it take a first look inside the new cold storage facility.

SALISBURY — In Rowan County, more than 23,000 people live at or below the poverty line. Metrolina’s Second Harvest Food Bank took another step forward in its work to address food insecurity in the community on Thursday with the addition and refilling of a large on-site freezer at its Salisbury location.

“Freezer space is very important in food banks, and we don’t have enough of it. So what happens when we have frozen products, and meat products in particular, we still want to be able to take that product and use it to feed people who need it,” said Kay Carter, CEO from Second Harvest.

The freezer was built at the organization’s Rowan County site on Airport Road, which serves as the food bank’s base for disaster relief supplies as well as a storage area for supplies distributed to more than 100 partner agencies throughout the region. This addition was made possible with support from the Leon Levine Foundation, the Cannon Foundation, the Merances Foundation and the Gene Haas Foundation.

With the addition of the freezer room, the former United Beverages distribution building will also house one of Second Harvest’s two cold storage facilities, with the other located at the Charlotte location.

“We have relatively large freezers in our Charlotte facility, but we don’t have them anywhere else. So what happens most of the time is Smithfield or one of the major meat companies calls and says “hey, we have three tractor trailers.” Well, unless we’re empty in Charlotte, we have to store them offsite and we don’t want to do that. We can still get it, but we have to pay for it. So the idea behind increasing the capacity here is to relieve Charlotte of that burden so we can still accommodate it,” Carter said.

Carter also said the organization is constantly making supplies between the Charlotte and Salisbury facilities, adding another reason to expand cold storage capabilities at the Salisbury location.

The building itself was extensively renovated after Second Harvest purchased it in 2022 with financial assistance from Food Lion. Facilities include cold storage, a drive-thru area for direct community distributions, a “trade zone” for partner agencies, and the general storage area, which includes disaster relief supplies, clothing, water, cleaning supplies, food, pet food and any other supplies the food bank keeps in stock.

Food Lion partnered with the agency again on its hunger relief campaign, called “Food Lion Feeds,” and stocked the freezer with other companies donating about a dozen of food trailers, including Tyson, Kellogg’s, Meat Factor. , Smithfield, Butterball, Action Food Sales, Cargill, Conagra, Double R, Lou’s Kitchen, Nestle, Purdue, Pilgrim’s and Skinny Butcher.

“Being a part of our cities since we started in 1957 has been incredibly important to us. It’s something we don’t take lightly. It’s something we’re all passionate about and aligns with our purpose. We nourish all families and prepare them for success in life,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion.

The location on Airport Road serves as a hub for Second Harvest Food Bank’s partnerships with 28 programs throughout Rowan County, including Rowan Helping Ministries, Rufty-Holmes Senior Center, Nazareth Children’s Home and the Salvation Army. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the organization donated 88 million pounds of food and household items, of which 3.1 million pounds were distributed to Rowan County agencies.

The organization also serves the surrounding counties of Stanly, Iredell and Cabarrus, which have received a total of approximately seven million pounds of supplies.

As for Second Harvest’s future plans, Carter said the organization is considering purchasing a large facility in Hickory to expand its operations in the Catawba County area. Upon completion, the organization plans to expand its current Spartanburg, South Carolina facility to provide additional capacity to work in upstate South Carolina.