After several years of planning, we are pleased to introduce our “Building for Lasting Impact” initiative. The project will substantially increase the number of families served, expand our geographic service area, increase the amount of healthy food offered, and provide an omnichannel distribution for our clients. The cornerstone of this project is an additional building which brings our new “Hub & Spoke” model to life. We invite you to learn more and be part of this innovative effort to serve struggling families.

THE NEED

1 in 5 people in our service area are living in poverty or low-income, and the number is increasing. Thousands of families are suffering from food insecurity, not knowing if they’ll have enough food to keep their families fed and healthy. Along with food insecurity comes chronic health issues, making self-sufficiency even more difficult.

OUR PLAN

As part of the Loaves & Fishes Strategic Plan for 2019-2021, one of our key objectives is to create an innovative, scalable, adaptable, health-focused, and expansive distribution model that increases access by those in need.  To accomplish this, we have adopted a hub and spoke distribution strategy.

On January 11, 2021, we announced the acquisition of an approximately 30,000 square foot warehouse distribution building that will serve as our “hub,” where we will receive, store and process all the food we distribute.  This property is 1.3 miles from our current facility at 1871 High Grove Lane.  It will also replace the overflow storage space that we lease.  Importantly, our new hub facility will allow us to better serve our clients because our delivery model will now be:

  • Scalable and efficient- we will be able to serve about 3 times the number of clients and with a 40% reduction in cost to serve
  • Flexible and adaptable –our clients will be able to choose how to get their food: shopping in our market, ordering food through our online ordering system, or picking up pre-packed food in our curbside service
  • Expansive –upon opening the new facility, Loaves & Fishes will be able to serve families in DuPage, Will, Kane, and Kendall counties
  • Healthier –our new hub will add substantially more freezer/cooler space to store fresh produce, dairy, etc.


HOW YOU CAN HELP

We invite you to help overcome the devastating impact of food insecurity. The new hub will help us serve the substantial amount of unmet need.
Click here to contribute