LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A local food pantry is expanding with the hopes of serving even more people in Lake County.
The Lake Cares Food Pantry celebrated its brand new 22,000-square-foot building on Monday morning.
[Watch the video below to see inside the new Lake Cares food pantry]
Inside the new facility, clients will work with different volunteers and community partners depending on what they need.
Kelsey Gonzalez, executive director for Lake Cares Food Pantry, said they’ll be able to provide a number of resources, including career development, cooking classes, insurance navigation, and medical resources.
“I always like to say it’s like calling 911,” Gonzalez said. “You know it’s usually an emergency if something has gone wrong. They’ve lost their job, there’s been a health issue and that’s why we exist. We want to know how we can take care of them as a whole. We’ll feed them first and then see how we can get them back to self-sufficiency.”
Gonzalez said in the new space, they’re able to hold up to 505 pallets of food. In the organization’s old building, they could only hold 60 pallets. Gonzalez said they’re not just growing, they’re transforming.
“Unfortunately, we had to expand because the economy is not getting better,” Gonzalez said. “There’s federal cuts, everyone is feeling it, and fortunately, we were able to have support from our community to make sure that we could be here to serve those in need.”
Teresa Harper is part of the Harper Family Charitable Foundation, one of the donors for this project. She said Lake Cares has a special place in her heart.
“I knew they needed a bigger space,” Harper said. “I knew they needed more, you know, more places to store food. But I did not expect it to be this big. And I am so very excited to see how far into Lake County we can reach even further than what we’ve reached now. It’s incredible to me that the need is so great and there’s not as many places to help.”
Lake Cares is expected to be open to the public the first week of June.
If you want to help the Lake Care food pantry, or you need help, you can go to the Lake Cares website for more information.