Clark County Food Bank’s newest multipurpose community pantry has been open for just six weeks and has already served 2,400 residents.
The Craig and Linn Dee Stein Vision Center, 4501 N.E. 68th Drive, opened in late September. Since then, about 100,000 pounds of food has filled families’ homes.
The 13,000-square-foot building includes a collaborative kitchen space, a distribution warehouse and a spacious food pantry that is modeled after a traditional grocery store. Through the Vision Center, the food bank will be able to process even more donations and create access to cultural and dietary-specific food for Clark County residents.
“We want them to feel empowered,” said Rachel Beck, the food bank’s director of development. “They’re in a situation where they feel uncomfortable with food insecurity, so we want to empower them and say there’s nothing wrong with having a hard time in your life. We want them to have that shopping experience with dignity.”
About the Vision Center
The Craig and Linn Dee Stein Vision Center, 4501 N.E. 68th Drive, is open from 1 to 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. The food bank is always looking for volunteers to help with farming, cooking, teaching and nutrition. For more information, visit www.clarkcountyfoodbank.org/volunteer.
The Vision Center is open every Monday and Wednesday from 1 to 6 p.m. The Fruit Valley Community Kitchen, 1910 W. Fourth Plain Blvd., is the food bank’s second pantry location. It’s open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m., and Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Construction on the Vision Center began in November 2022. The $5 million project was funded through multiple donations, including $1 million from Craig and Linn Dee Stein of Craig Stein Beverage.
The Vision Center can distribute up to 27,000 pounds of food a month and also provides nutrition and cooking classes, health care services and connects clients to other community resources. It’s next door to Clark County Food Bank’s original facility, 6502 N.E. 47th Ave., which was built in 2012.
The distribution warehouse provides 10,000 square feet for processing and distributing food, and the building’s lot has 67 parking spaces.
Former Clark County Food Bank President Alan Hamilton, who retired this fall, previously said he was proud to help launch the Vision Center.
“I’m thrilled, especially because it’ll give us the chance to provide a very high-dignity client experience to get food. It’ll also give us the opportunity to collect and access new food sources in the warehouse part,” Hamilton said in July. “Then, I think most importantly, it’ll give us a chance to really begin to address some of the root causes of hunger and provide some permanent solutions that families facing hunger experience.”
Shop with dignity
Bright lights shone down on bread, canned foods, vegetables and other items at the Vision Center on a recent Thursday afternoon.
When clients come in to shop for food, their experience is the same as it would be at a traditional grocery store, Program Manager Rachel Casey said.
Shopping carts are available for clients to roll through the aisles and pick out their favorite items. During peak hours, the Vision Center serves about 200 people.
“What we want is for them to experience what you would at any traditional grocery store,” Casey said. “You get to choose what you do and don’t want to take for your family.”
About 25 percent of residents in Clark County experienced food insecurity in 2023, Beck said. The nonprofit served 135,000 people in 2023, but the need hasn’t dwindled.
The food bank manages 8 million pounds of food each year, which equals 6.7 million meals for people experiencing hunger.
Beck said she can already see the Vision Center being a vehicle for serving more families and continuing to address food insecurity.
“Something simple is oftentimes difficult and a lot of times emotional,” Community Engagement Manager Elora Hargis said. “So to have support in that and feel like you have guidance and empowerment in order to do these kinds of things is really encouraging.”
The Clark County Food Bank held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Vision Center on Tuesday.
The food bank is always looking for volunteers to help with farming, cooking, teaching and nutrition. For more information, visit www.clarkcountyfoodbank.org/volunteer.
