Food bank in Monroe doubling its size through snazzy redone space

MONROE — The Sky Valley Food Bank’s director Matt Campbell lately has had a certain sense of eagerness.
He and his colleagues are nearly at the end of a two-and-a-half-year renovation that completely upgrades the food bank and doubles its size.
It could be mid-March when it has its official clearances to welcome shoppers to look and see.
They’re re-branding the name for the shopping experience, revamping the feel and making it bright and clean.
The Tribune got the chance to take a tour last week.
Imagine something like a small mom-and-pop shop that carries fresh fruits and meat. A sound system pumps in music, and LED lighting overhead ensures everything is bright. The shelves physically are the same as a grocer’s. The freezers, too. The bread area has wood accents like in major grocery chains with segments for all sorts of products. A cabinet with a teddy bear on top holds some of the baby supplies for the 25 or so families that need them each week. They’re also adding a specialty foods section for vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free selections.
It’s being called The Market at the Sky Valley Food Bank.

A food bank provides supplemental food to anyone who wants it. Campbell said they want to eliminate any stigma people have from coming to a food bank.
Campbell worked seven years in the grocery industry before working in food banks for the past two decades.
“We want it to not look like a food bank from 30 years ago,” Campbell said, likening the space to a real grocery store.
There’s a new, welcoming lobby where people can have a seat before taking ahold of a shopping cart. The old way was just a door with a line going outside.
The new entrance “doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is,” Campbell said.
Fresh paint on newly built walls includes a mural and welcoming statement in 12 languages (one is Klingon — Campbell insisted).
“We want people to know we don’t care where you’re from. we want you to feel welcomed,” Campbell said.
The new Market is 1,127 square feet, twice the size of the prior service area. Overall, the whole addition is 1,043 square feet of more space.
Getting here had unexpected setbacks: Without getting too far into details, they had to switch contractors and had to have a lot of the construction work redone.
“It’s been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done professionally, and that was including serving during COVID,” Campbell said.
For the past eight months, while construction went on, clients have been coming for food from its back warehouse.
Food bank workers point out that barring weather closures, they’ve never missed a service date.
Warehouse manager Kristi Wilson compliments the volunteers. The fact they’ve all stuck through this has been helpful, she said.
People can shop for as long as they want and choose what they need.

More shelf space means the food bank can carry a wider variety of choice.The Sky Valley Food Bank serves about 300 families a week, up from 225 families a week a couple of years ago. On top of this, they give 300 weekend food bags to students and deliver food to 40 households in Index.
As long as people continue supporting the food bank at the same levels, it can handle about 30 more families before needing to adjust to compensate for having more families.
Campbell anticipates the number of people will increase because of inflation.
“We can’t let up,” he said.
The Sky Valley Food Bank is located at 233 Sky River Parkway, Monroe, near the senior center. Its phone number is 360-794-7959.