Foothills Food Bank and Resource Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing food and resources to those in need in northern Maricopa County, announced the expansion of its facility to a new location and the groundbreaking of a $6.5 million campus.

The food bank will break ground this summer.

The Foothills Food Bank’s new facility will increase its capabilities to accept and distribute twice as much food as they can currently accommodate, in turn helping more lives in the more than 200-square-mile service area.

“This new facility will allow us to greatly increase our capacity to store and distribute food and provide additional resources to better serve the needs of our community,” said Leigh Zydonik, executive director of Foothills Food Bank. “The new campus will allow us to help neighbors with training, financial coaching, self-help programming and so much more.”

The new food bank campus, on Carefree Highway and 41st street, will be 15,000 square feet that will double the capacity for food storage, freezer and cooling space. The new warehouse will feature three loading docks, including one for personal donations and two for the food bank’s vans, trucks and commercial vehicles.

The nonprofit seeks to raise the full $6.5 million through fundraising and donations, so far meeting half the goal from the generosity of the community. Officials have begun fundraising with a plan to reach their financial goal to better serve the needs of the community.

The food bank has its sights set on becoming a certified green building, designing aspects to reduce the overall impact of the campus on the natural environment. They plan to take advantage of solar power options, use of sustainable materials and healthy indoor environmental features.

Resource and private training space will allow the food bank to host seminars and educational events, something Foothills Food Bank has never been able to provide at this large of scale.

The current warehouse hosts many community partners such as county and state social service providers that assists neighbors in additional resources and education like completing the application process for low income housing or obtaining a birth certificate or social security card.

The new campus will offer room to social service agencies to meet regularly with neighbors, having a larger impact on the needs of the community.