Countywide : 90 Millionth Pound of Food Shipped Out

When the Food Distribution Center dispatched its 90 millionth pound of food for the county’s needy, a computerized alarm went off at the agency’s headquarters in Orange, the signal for an impromptu celebration.

“I was startled because I wasn’t thinking about it,” said John Chestnut of Orange Elderly Services Inc., the charity that set the bells ringing last week by sending out that historic pound of food.

The center, which feeds about 180,000 people each month, regularly distributes to about 286 nonprofit charities.

It has come a long way since it opened in October, 1983, said Margaret O’Malley, the center’s development manager. The total amount of food and other necessities, such as diapers and laundry soap, that the agency has collected over the years, O’Malley said, equals the tonnage of more than 150 fully loaded military cargo planes.

The first year, she said, the center collected less than 3 million pounds. Now the annual total is more than 10 million pounds.

The private, nonprofit food bank on Almond Street accepts goods donated from manufacturers, restaurants, corporations and other groups such as the Boy Scouts. It is staffed largely by volunteers, many of whom make visits to the center a part of their regular routine.

“I go over there just about every day,” said Chestnut of Orange Elderly Services.