DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — A former elementary school in the Miami Valley is being reimagined into a facility designed to help people who need food.

Homefull broke ground on a new grocery store Thursday morning. It’s being built on a vacant piece of land on South Gettysburg Avenue where an elementary school once stood.

Dayton has been named among the hungriest cities in the nation, with one out of five families facing food insecurity, according to a study done by Feeding America. Homefull CEO Tina Patterson said this new store will help to reduce those numbers.

“We have a program adjacent to this that already has to go miles and miles to a grocery store,” Patterson said. “Or they cross the street and go to places that aren’t grocery stores and pay prices that they shouldn’t for healthy foods that aren’t really available to them either.”

The first phase will be the grocery store, which is expected to be completed by summer of 2024.

This project will also include administrative offices for Homefull, affordable housing and a primary healthcare wing in partnership with Kettering Health.