Governor Enrique Alfaro this week laid the first stone of a building that will become the new headquarters of the Jalisaco Food Bank, a private initiative financed through the private sector.
The site of the new complex is in an industrial zone of Tlaquepaque, to the south of the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
Thanks to the Food Bank, 25,000 economically challenged families in Jalisco currently receive 50,000 monthly despensas (basic food and supplies parcels), according to Food Bank President José Luis González. This figure will rise to 35,000 families once the first stage of the building is finished, and 125,000 families by the conclusion of the project, he said.
The Food Bank – the first to be set up in Mexico – services 260 communities in the Guadalajara metropolitan area and 51 in the rest of the state, as well as 122 institutions, including care homes, community dining rooms, rehabilitation centers and children’s homes.
The private sector will fund the new center, with 120 million pesos earmarked in the first stage of the project.
During the pandemic, the Food Bank has been instrumental in the state government’s Jalisco Sin Hambre (Jalisco Without Hunger) emergency program to ensure the wellbeing of citizens most vulnerable to the economic consequences of the crisis.
In his speach, Alfaro said Jalisco is “creating the conditions not only to be the agri-food giant of Mexico, but also a state that truly guarantees food security for the next generations.”