MISSOULA — The Burns Street Community Center was recently filled by Soft Landing Missoula's United We Eat program and the addition brought up the question of how the space can be utilized.
The North Missoula Community Development Corporation owns the community center and the people there have looked for ways the building could be utilized.
North Missoula Community Development Corporation executive director Brittany Palmer says one of the best ways to answer that question is to ask the community what they want.
“This building serves both the immediate neighborhood and also I think it serves as a place on the west side that folks from all over the community can come to and while they’re here they may be able to notice things like the lack of sidewalks for example,” Palmer said.
“So I think it’s good to have both neighbors and people from the wider community coming to this little corner of the west side," she continued.
The first big change that has already been made at the Burns Street Community Center is the addition of the United We Eat Program which allows immigrant refugee chefs to make an authentic meal from their culture once a week.
United We Eat organizer Beth Baker says volunteers and the refugee chefs make the program possible.
“It feels like it’s really a community effort which is why we’re so excited that we’re here at this community center that has such a robust neighborhood full of people who are interested in seeing what this space can become," Baker told MTN.
With a full commercial kitchen at the program’s disposal, Baker says the possibilities for growth are there, “We’re not exactly sure how this will change and affect our programming but we’re really excited to dream a little.”
United We Eat offers meal pickups on Tuesdays between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
