MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Food Bank has been a staple in the community for 36 years now, and one of the familiar faces of the food bank is executive director Andrew Christensen.

Christensen has decided to retire after years of serving the community. He started with the food bank in January 2008 and worked his way up through the rankings becoming a day manager. In 2013 he became the third executive director for the food bank.

However, all good things must come to an end. On Feb. 13, Christensen turned in his retirement letter in to the board; a week after was his last day with the food bank.

“I knew it was time,” said Christensen. “Any organization that has much going as the food bank really needs to evolve, such as a new process and a new way of doing things. There comes a point where it’s time for old the guard to move on and let the new folks take over and do it better than we were doing before.”

As Christensen reflected on 13 years of service, he told stories about his interactions with people. That lead to him saying that is what he is going to miss the most.

“I’m gonna miss the people the most,” said Christensen. “Every day the same people came and worked, and on other days a different batch of people showed up. It gave me a chance to work with people in the community that I probably would have never got in contact with.”

Laura Keith, the new executive director of the food bank, spoke fondly of her longtime friend and what he meant to the food bank.

“We both started volunteering at the same time through the church we both attended, then we also became day managers around the same time,”  said Keith. “He was a very devoted director. He worked hard to keep the tradition of the food bank intact. He represented the food bank with grace and made it a place people want to give and volunteer.”

Despite retiring Christensen will continue to serve on the board for the food bank and will still help out from time to time as the food bank will always be a part of him and his family.