According to FACES Food Pantry President Ellery Sedgwick, “Nothing good happens fast.” This was the appropriate phrase Sedgwick used to describe the approximately 3-year process to obtain the land and funds for what will now be FACES’ newest location.

These good things: a 7,000 square-foot building and the acres of land on Commerce Road from which to build the facility, could not have happened to a better organization. FACES served 992 households in 2017, distributing a total of 1.3 million pounds of food through its weekly distributions, its deliveries to senior citizens and its children’s backpack program.

Sedgwick said households who pick up weekly distributions that include food staples such as bread, meat products and produce can save up to $2,500 in a year. He said this can come up to nearly 10 percent of a household’s income for families who make $20,000 a year or less. He said this income gives families the funds to care for their health and other expenses.

Sedgwick said the sizable grant FACES received from FeedMore in late April, and the land they received from the Southside Virginia Family YMCA was exactly what FACES needed to build a location that would be more than twice the square footage of its current 3,200 square foot facility in downtown Farmville.

“It will give us a permanent home. It will give us good equipment, and a sanitary, well-cleaned facility to distribute from. And help us to expand our programs,” Sedgwick said about the new facility.

He said the community’s generous support, particularly following the flood in May, was what allowed the food pantry to not only start building a new location, but what sustained the pantry for so many years leading up to now.

The Herald expresses our sincerest congratulations toward FACES, the YMCA and the community members and organizations who have supported this new project, and for putting their time, effort and donations toward strengthening our whole community.