Mat-Su Food Bank celebrates new location with community

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Food Bank was recently joined by numerous members of the community to celebrate the official ribbon cutting ceremony for its new location located off Blue Lupine Drive near the Parks Highway.

There was a community barbecue and several guest speakers from local politicians and other individuals. Visitors were also able to take a tour through the new facility to witness for themselves how much the grassroots nonprofit has grown over the years.

"It was very nice," Mat-Su Food Bank Executive Director Eddie Ezelle said.

The Mat-Su Food Bank has been in the process of moving their entire operation from their humble office located within the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and small warehouse in Knik Goose Bay to the new all in one location for the last two years.

Ezelle said it feels great to finally be fully moved in and settled securely for their continued growth. He said they were at the previous location for over three decades. He said they appreciated the opportunity and they will miss it, but they had to move on to accommodate the ever growing need to feed locals across the community.

"It gave us a permanent home," Ezelle said.

The new facility features a walk in food pantry along with numerous storage capabilities such as huge coolers, freezers and overall warehouse space.

Ezelle said that things slowed down for a time due to the move and the public's collective memory of the previous location, but everything's picked up with more people getting used to the new location each day.

"We've done pretty good. We've kept up with it- But it takes a coordinated effort with many people," Ezelle said. "People are starting to realize... Now we've got this huge new warehouse. We can handle pretty much anything you bring to us."

The Mat-Su Food Bank is a core distributor for various food pantries across the Mat-Su Valley. Ezelle said their new facility helps them further support community members in need. He said it's been a group effort all around with everyone pulling together for the common cause.

"We're your local food bank. We're your neighbors… We need it in the Valley. It's good to have a little backstock. We need more capacity. We gotta work together on it," Ezelle said. "I've always been impressed with how helpful the people in the Valley are. It's nice that we can help them too."

Ezelle credited the dedication of his pool of staff members and volunteers for helping them reach this point.

"I couldn't do it without them," Ezelle said.

For more information about the Mat-Su Food Bank, visit matsufoodbank.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com