BALTIMORE — A Baltimore-based, food rescue organization, is trying to rebound after a fire ripped through its facility.
J.C. Faulk, the founder of “Bmore Community Food,” believes it was arson after spotting someone on one of the building’s surveillance cameras.
In the video that Faulk shared with WMAR-2 News, it appears a white male, wearing green shorts and a backpack, can be seen walking on the property and watching the fire shortly after it started.
“That first day man, it kind of got to me a little bit,” Faulk said. “I’ve been working 10 to 18 hour days for three years to build this thing and then one idiot can show up with a match [and] just disrupt it in a split second.”
Faulk also says this was the “opportune time” to attack their organization because, in their efforts to feed hungry people in the city, they were in the middle of their most successful month yet.
“The most that we’ve ever imported or exported in any month up to this month was 360,000 pounds,” he said. “Halfway through the month, we’re already up to 995,000 pounds. They hope [we’ll] go away. Well, we ain’t going nowhere. We’ll be right here.”
Faulk started the nonprofit after taking it upon himself to help feed his neighbors during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Back then, he was helping feed people out of the trunk of his car.
Now, Bmore Community Food has a facility that takes up 11,000 square feet, with the support of volunteers, local organizations and large food distributors who help them dish out thousands of pounds of food on a weekly basis. Even after the fire, Faulk says they were still able to get out a good amount of the food that went untouched by the fire.
“It didn’t completely stop us,” he said. “It just halted us for a minute, [but] we’ll be right back up and better than ever.”
Some of Bmore Community Food’s partners have already started helping with repairs to the roof and other damaged areas in the building. Faulk says it’s a testament to the works they’re doing and the people they’ve helped along the way and he believes it has actually bringing people together.
“People who were supporting us already and [that] we were supporting, are supporting us and rallying around us even more,” Faulk said. “I don’t think that, that was the intention of the person who did this.”
If you’d like to donate to Bmore Community Food and help with its recovery efforts, give to the cause or become a volunteer, head to www.food4bmore.org
