HELENA — Helena Food Share is finishing up construction on its brand-new 20,000-square-foot facility.
"By bringing everything together here, it's just going to provide us the ability to operate, you know, and more efficiently provide better service," says Helena Food Share executive director Bruce Day.
Helena Food Share reports that one in seven Helena residents is hungry, one in five children don't have enough to eat, and one in five seniors don't know where their next meal will come from.
Day says the new building was vital to meet the needs of the community.
"You know, the kitchen and the warehouse are going to be allowing us to provide more food to more people. And we do expect and anticipate that, you know, the need is going to continue to grow as the Helena area grows,” says Day.
Construction began on the Community Food Resource Center last year and the hope is the work will be completed in September, and then open to the public in October.
The building cost about $12 million and was funded by state and federal grants as well as local grants.
The new facility is designed to serve the growing need in Helena and consolidate their team from two buildings to one.
It will feature an inside welcome lobby for customers, a market, a commercial kitchen, a large warehouse, loading docks, a community room, a cooler, a freezer, and a room that can be changed between the two, offices, and a breakroom for volunteers.
Day himself will be retiring at the end of this year. While the organization is still searching for a replacement, Day hopes Helena Food Share will continue to impact the community after he's left the organization.
"You know, my hope for Helena Food Share and my expectation is that this will be an organization that continues to focus on its mission which is providing food to people in the community and serving them well with dignity, with respect. And that's what part of what all this building is about, is making sure that the people who come to Helena Food Share have what they need," says Day.
