HELENA — The Helena Food Share is looking to construct a new, 20-thousand square foot facility on Boulder Avenue, just a few blocks away from their current location on Lewis Street.
The location is vacant at the moment, and with the rising need of food assistance in the greater Helena area and would be perfect for the future food pantry. Executive director at Helena Food Share Bruce Day believes that it’ll be a huge help to the Helena community.
"In the course of a year that’s equals out to almost 8 thousand people touched by some way by Helena Food Share and the services we're providing. So, it's a pretty big segment of our community people that need help getting food and having the facility serve them and do well is really important," said Day.
The new facility will open up more space for food, customers and volunteers for the food pantry than in their current location.
"The number of people coming to Helena Food Share for assistance in the recent months have been growing pretty rapidly and so we're seeing a real need, it's going to help people because they're going to have access to better food and more food in a more improved facility," said Day.
Their application with the Community Development Block Grant Programs (CDBG) is under review Monday night to help with payment for the new facility costs.
"Not only are we seeking public funding through the CDBG grant and other public grants, but we are also have been getting funding from, and will continue to solicit, funding from individuals and businesses and foundations, private donors throughout the community," said Day.
With the payment for the new facility ranging around $8.2 million for Helena Food Share, the food pantry requested about 9% of that cost to be covered by CDBG. The request for the grant will be reviewed Monday night.
