ST. GEORGE — Long hours of volunteer work and years of service culminated in a ribbon cutting Thursday afternoon at the newly expanded Utah Food Bank Southern Distribution Center.

The parking lot of the facility at 4416 S. River Road in St. George was packed with TV cameras and spectators as officials and volunteers dedicated the Linda Trujillo Volunteer Center.

That is the name for the new building, which added more warehouse space to the already existing food bank that was originally built in 2011.

Utah Food Bank officials said the expansion of the distribution center in St. George is a crucial piece of enhancing their ability to fight statewide hunger.

“The need is growing. More and more people are fighting hunger,” Southern Distribution Center Director Jacob Miner said. “And that’s where we are today. We’ve learned that as St. George continues to grow, so does that need.”

Miner noted that the warehouse will allow storage and processing of 700 pallets of food, almost double the 400 pallets the facility could handle before the expansion.

Besides additional warehouse storage space, new features in the facility include a walk-in refrigerator, expanded volunteer project space with a dedicated volunteer entrance and registration desk, and staff meeting and workspace.

The Southern Distribution Center serves Utah’s six southernmost counties: Beaver, Iron, Washington, Garfield, Kane and San Juan. Last year this facility distributed 4.7 million pounds of food, the equivalent of 3.9 million meals, to residents of Southern Utah.

The distribution center works with many local service groups including the Rotary Club and the Washington County School District.

Mike Carr, who has worn a variety of hats in his long service with Washington County Schools, is currently the support services coordinator for the district.

“At this point in time we have 15 mobile food pantries with one pending,” Carr reported to the crowd. “We have eight in-school pantries with three pending. Altogether that’s 27 schools out of the 50 schools in the county that are now served by the Utah Food Bank.”

Carr continued with some sobering statistics. He said there are a total of 33,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students in Washington County, and 40% of them qualify for free lunch. Further, he said, 725 students qualify as being homeless.

“During last school year alone this distribution site gave 166,262 pounds to the mobile pantries and 44,740 pounds to the school pantries,” Carr said. “That’s a total of 211,000 pounds. That’s 405,124 dollars worth of food. That is mind blowing. Thank you so much for this partnership.”

St. George Mayor Michele Randall gave brief remarks before the ribbon cutting as did Tim Martin from the St. George Interfaith Council, who is also a member of the board at the Switchpoint Community Resource Center. Martin said Switchpoint is another local group that benefits enormously because of its partnership with the Utah Food Bank.

The addition to the warehouse would never have been completed without the help of Markay Johnson Construction, a family-owned construction company in St. George. Skylar Markay Johnson was on hand to help with the ribbon cutting and to present a check to the Utah Food Bank.

“I can’t be more proud,” Johnson said. “I can’t think of anything I’ve done in construction that really tops being a part of the food bank and this association.”

Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott was one of several officials who made the drive from Salt Lake City to attend the ribbon cutting. She told the crowd that when it came time to name the new facility, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind to whom it would be dedicated.

Linda Trujillo moved from Salt Lake to St. George in 2011 to run the distribution center. She brought her entire family with her. Over the years she became the rock that the foundation of the food bank is built upon.

“You integrated yourself into this community, and you’ve done so much for so many,” Bott told Trujillo, who was in the crowd and pleasantly surprised when her son, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter all showed up to share her honors.

“As we come in and out of these doors every single day, we’ll think of you as a leader, as a mother, as our friend and as a volunteer,” Bott said. “We love you and thank you.”

Trujillo herself was overtaken with emotion but her daughter Jenny and son Billy told St. George News the family couldn’t be happier.

“The food bank is part of what shaped us into who we are,” Jenny said. “And to have her as a role model has just been incredible. To see what they did to honor her name in this — it means the world to my mom. It means more than I could ever say.”

Billy said that the family was eager to move to St. George and continue a long-standing family record of service.

“Watching her pioneer the food bank down here has been an honor. It’s been incredible watching her reach out to the community and how the community has embraced the food bank and really helped get it going,” he said. “It’s much more than a job to her. It’s her passion. She loves helping people and wants to really help people in need.”

Three generations of Trujillo’s participated in the ribbon cutting as Linda’s 14-year-old granddaughter Jessie Cavasos was also there.

“She’s really cool,” Jessie said about her grandmother. “I think that she’s awesome how she likes to help people.”

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