Hannaford will donate approximately $250,000 of food to the Vermont Foodbank on Saturday in connection with the opening of the supermarket chain's new 65,000-square-foot store in the Green Mountain Shopping Plaza in Rutland Town.

The donation will take place at 7 a.m., at the site of the former Hannaford store at 241 South Main St.

Four Vermont Foodbank tractor trailers will load up with approximately 34,000 pounds, or 17 tons, of food from the former Hannaford store in the city.

Hannaford is donating all perishable goods, including meat, seafood, bakery and deli items, and fresh produce from the old store.

Doug O'Brien, executive director of the Vermont Foodbank, said Wednesday the donation is one of the largest the organization has received and will provide approximately 30,000 meals for low-income Vermonters.

He said the Hannaford donation could not have come at a more opportune time with cutbacks in federal donations coinciding with increased demand.

"Federal donations to the foodbank have declined substantially," O'Brien said. "We're down 88 percent since 2003 in USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) donations."

At the same time, demand has jumped. O'Brien said as more families are having trouble making ends meet they're "turning to local food shelves and food pantries to help just tide them over."

The Hannaford donation will be distributed to the foodbank's 270 partners, including food shelves, food pantries, senior centers, shelters and after-school programs that assist 66,000 Vermonters each year.

The foodbank has 11 partners in Rutland County (http://www.vtfoodbank.org/).

"First and foremost, we will make sure our network partners in Rutland County are adequately served and then this will go throughout the state," O'Brien said. "It's just a great donation."

He said the food will be trucked to the foodbank's production kitchen in Barre where most of the perishable items will be turned into ready-to-eat meals, which extends the life of the food.

Hannaford spokeswoman Tara Morgan said the donation is part of the company's ongoing relationship with the Vermont Foodbank.

"We understand the importance specifically of perishable items," Morgan said. "I know that from working with foodbanks most of their needs really aren't dry goods, it's the protein, the meat, the fresh produce."

She also said the donation should put the foodbank in good shape for the Easter and Passover season.

Morgan said Hannaford last year started a pilot program in its South Barre store where perishable items are picked up by the Vermont Foodbank. She said the company will expand the program this year to its 13 other stores in the state.

Hannaford is relocating to a store 18,000 square feet larger, in the Green Mountain Shopping Plaza on Route 7 South in Rutland Town. The new store, which opens Saturday, was originally built to be the first Stop & Shop supermarket in the state.

Stop & Shop, however, decided against opening the store when it failed to make progress in opening other stores in Vermont. The company said operating one store in the state didn't make economic sense.

The new Hannaford store will have a larger selection of meat, produce and deli items; natural and organic foods; a small café featuring breakfast, lunch and dinner items; an expanded floral department; and an expanded selection of health and beauty aids, plus self-scan checkout registers.

The store will employ 205 full- and part-time workers, an increase of 12 percent over the former location.

Hannaford Bros. Co., based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 165 stores and has 27,000 employees. The company is owned by Delhaize Group of Brussels, Belgium.

Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com.