The steel parts of Marion-Polk Food Share's new repackaging equipment grumbled and vibrated loudly, sorting and bagging pasta.

Soon, it halted. As about a hundred pairs of eyes looked on, staffers quickly troubleshooted.

Later, chief operating officer Rick Gaupo explained, there was a glitch with the computer settings.

As much as the team hoped the first public demonstration would go smoothly, the small hiccup showed just how new this is to the regional food bank.

The organization invited the community to the Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony of the repack center, which is expected to almost double the food bank's capacity to process bulk donations.

In the past, volunteers repacked bulk foods to household servings by hand. Frozen food was often more labor intensive, as volunteers would have to break up large chunks with an ice pick before repackaging the food.

Soon, these bulk items will be mechanically repackaged through equipment funded mostly by grants.

U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader gave remarks at the ceremony.

"This is a game-changer," he said.

The repack line will allow the food share to do much more and feed many more people, he said. Schrader also commented on how much community support was necessary to make it possible.

"They're leaders," he said. "That only comes about with great community support."
Volunteers currently repackage about 2,000 pounds of rice or beans a day. The automated repack line will process the same amount of food in about 34 minutes.

The food share could process 83 percent more bulk food on a monthly basis. This also means the food share can accept 15 percent more bulk food donations — increasing total food distribution by at least 250,000 pounds.

Instead of ice picks, a giant tool resembling a guillotine will be used to break up frozen food. The organization may no longer have to turn away frozen products for the lack of efficient methods to process them. The repack room can be sealed and refrigerated.

In the end, the organization would feed more people.

Gaupo said the first real run of the machinery will come in a few weeks when it will sort and package 40,000 pounds of pinto beans.

The project cost more than $400,000. More than $300,000 came from the city of Salem Community Development Block Grant. Kaiser Permanente and Physician’s Choice Foundation also helped pay for the project.

Layton Manufacturing Co., based in West Salem, provided some equipment and helped secure other pieces that weren’t locally available.

President Ron Hays said now that the work of securing and installing the equipment is done, there’s yet a lot more work in training volunteers, coming up with a standard procedure and coordinating schedules for outside organizations to use the machinery.

He expressed gratitude and relief that the major step he envisioned for his organization is now reality.

“I’ve talked about this,” he said. “And now it’s here.”