The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, which feeds the needy across a 12-county area that includes Gadsden, Jasper and Talladega, has begun construction on a new distribution center in Bessemer that will be twice as big and replace the current facility in Birmingham.

It’s expected to open in the spring of 2026.

Nicole Williams, CEO of Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, said the current warehouse facility at 107 Walter Davis Drive in Birmingham is not big enough or well-equipped to handle the need.

“It’s not very efficient,” she said. “The efficiencies of this new space are really going to help our team move more food in and out to our community.”

The new facility will be double the size and is being built in an industrial park just off Lakeshore Parkway at 4336 Turin Drive in Bessemer.

“This will help us bring in more food and get it out to the community,” Williams said.

A big freezer cooler space in the middle of the building will increase the capacity for refrigerated food. It will have inbound and outbound shipping ramps on both sides, and an area for volunteers to build food boxes, and for the food bank to accept and sort items that are donated.

“We currently move about 2 million pounds of food a month into and out of our warehouse to 12 counties to feed people,” Williams said.

The 12-county area includes Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Walker, and Winston.

There are many working people in the region who do not qualify for federal nutrition programs, but may have experienced a temporary hardship because of unexpected health expenses or car repairs, Williams said.

“It’s the food budget that suffers,” she said. “We are feeding people who are working and have families but are just a little short each month, to make sure they have enough nutritious food.”

Trump administration freezes and cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture programs has halted or eliminated at least $1.5 billion in USDA funds for schools and food banks.

That’s felt by the Community Food Bank, Williams said.

“The cuts from the USDA mostly affect the food that we get from organizations,” she said.

“It is definitely affecting the food bank and where we get our food,” Williams said. “We already know there are programs that have been canceled that have resulted in almost 3 million pounds of food for the food bank being lost this year. That equates to 2.6 million meals. We are working to move more food and more community support to fill those gaps.”

The food bank is asking for donations to offset the losses.

“We did 25 million pounds of food last year, so 3 million pounds of that is lost for this year,” Williams said. “We’ll need to find that food elsewhere. That might mean buying more food. We need folks to step forward, donate to the food bank so we can purchase more food. There’s not ever enough food to go around.”

Helping feed hungry families has been a goal that’s attracted a lot of community support.

So far, the Community Food Bank has raised $24.5 million toward the cost of its new building, it and needs to raise $7 million more. The current warehouse will be sold with proceeds going toward the new building, but that won’t be enough to cover the additional $7 million that’s needed.

The food bank operates with 57 paid staff and thousands of volunteers who work with more than 300 partner agencies to distribute food throughout the region.

“I would love to say we can solve hunger,” Williams said at the groundbreaking ceremony on April 3. “I don’t think it’s going to happen in our lifetime. We can continue to work towards it.”