LANCASTER, PA. (August 23, 2019) – Blessings of Hope, a food distribution warehouse for food banks focused on providing for families in need throughout the Lancaster County community, is proud to announce the purchase of its new 43,900-square-foot food distribution facility in Leola, PA.
Since they started tracking numbers in 2011, Blessings of Hope has distributed over 36 million meals and blessed hundreds of thousands of families in the Lancaster County area. In 2019, there has been an average of 25,000 meals distributed daily to the surrounding communities, but Blessings of Hope recognized that that number could be much higher.
With such a vast increase of incoming food volume, Blessings of Hope made the decision to expand its facilities in order to handle larger donation capacities. On Tuesday, August 13, 2019, the official settlement was made to purchase the former home of the Hess Brothers Fruit Company building in Leola for $1.25 million. Renovations are expected to begin on the building within the next two months, with a planned $1.25 million renovation budget. Blessings of Hope aims to move in to a portion of the new facilities by the beginning of 2020 with renovation fully completed by the end of 2020.
During the renovations, the new building will be rebuilt to better accommodate the growing services that this ministry provides as well as expand into food dehydration equipment, we will also be able to store three times more food than we can store in our current building. Blessings of Hope estimates that the new expansion will allow for them to distribute over 100 million meals to low-income families in the first 8 years of operation.
“It’s been a long process, but we’re very excited to officially announce the new building purchase,” said David Lapp, CEO of Blessings of Hope. “Thanks to the help of our Growing2Feed Capital Campaign, we were able to raise $621,263 towards the building purchase and renovations. We’re truly excited that God has given us this opportunity to grow and glorify Him through the gift of food and to spread hope to families across our community and beyond!”
For more information on Blessings of Hope and their mission, or to learn how you can help, call (717) 824-1227 or email admin@blessingsofhope.com. You can also connect with them on Facebook for more updates.
About Blessings of Hope
Started in 2006, Blessings of Hope empowers ministries, organizations, and individuals to reach the less fortunate within the community through food and acts of loving kindness. With over 2,300 registered volunteers, Blessings of Hope serves approximately 25,000 meals per day to those in need throughout the North East USA. To learn more about Blessings of Hope, visit blessingsofhope.com