The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina opened a new Food Lion FEEDS Hunger Solution Center on Tuesday afternoon in Durham.
Community leaders, volunteers and Food Lion representatives were in attendance to celebrate the new 64,000-square-foot food distribution facility at Welcome Venture Park on Hamlin Road. Leaders say it will help reduce hunger and expand access to fresh food for families in need.
Irish Jones, director of the Timberlake Community Center Food Pantry, said more families are seeking food assistance as grocery prices remain high and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits change.
"We have currently anywhere from six to a thousand visitors per month at our location," Jones said. "Everyone is just very grateful for what we've been able to provide them with."
Jones joined community leaders and volunteers for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the new facility. After the ceremony, attendees toured the distribution warehouse and discussed how the center will help meet growing demand for food assistance.
Leaders said the new center will expand access to fresh food and strengthen distribution efforts for area residents.
"Over the past year and a half we faced deep federal funding cuts, we had major disruptions in supply chain and flow of food, we had a government shutdown and a prolonged state budget impact," Beros said.
Beros said the expanded facility comes at a critical time for organizations working to address food insecurity.
"I am really excited about the expanded access to be able to get more produce and protein out ... and to be able to better meet the needs of our neighbors is pretty incredible in a time like this," Beros said.
The new facility is expected to play a larger role in food distribution efforts as local organizations work to address increasing demand for assistance.
The center was made possible in part through a $1 million investment from Food Lion FEEDS, the grocery retailer's hunger-relief platform.
"Communities are facing the worst hunger crisis that we've seen in at least a generation, if not more," said Jason Kanawati Stephany , Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
Nearly 97,000 people across the six-county region served by the Durham branch do not know where their next meal will come from.
"That's one out of every six neighbors that you and I run into at the grocery store or out pumping gas," said Jason Kanawati Stephany.
One of the center's biggest advantages will be its ability to handle fresher, locally grown food.
"This gives us such an incredible opportunity to bring in fresh, locally grown food straight out of the field into that facility, get it packaged up and back out into the community even faster than we have before," said Jason Kanawati Stephany.
SNAP Benefits
According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an estimated 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between July 2025 and April 2026, including roughly 1 million children in 19 states with available data.
The report found that SNAP participation declined in 49 states during that period following changes to eligibility requirements enacted under a federal tax and spending law approved last year.
Before those changes took effect, about 42 million Americans received SNAP benefits.
Food Bank leaders say the loss of benefits, combined with rising food costs, has increased demand for emergency food assistance across North Carolina and heightened the need for expanded community resources.
"We are truly grateful to our longtime partners at Food Lion for providing critical resources for the new Hunger Solution Center in Durham," Amy Beros, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina said in a statement. "Their generous support has helped to double our capacity to deliver fresh, Carolina-grown food to neighbors throughout the region."