The Clark County Food Bank is inches away from a major move into bigger, better digs. All it needs is one final funding nudge toward its $4.2 million goal.
The central feeder for 14 smaller food pantries all around Clark County hopes to raise $80,000 by the end of the month, according to vice chairman Jim Youde. Doing that means unlocking an additional $1.47 million commitment from the Washington State Legislature — and reaching the food bank’s long-sought capital campaign target.
“We are right on the edge,” said Youde. “We are at 98 percent of our goal. We’ve just got a little ways to go.”
If all is in order by Nov. 30, the Clark County Food Bank will be able to leave behind its leased warehouse and start building its own headquarters, warehouse and distribution center.
The current facility, tucked behind BOC Gases on Northeast 47th Avenue in Hazel Dell, is “inadequate, inefficient and outdated,” according to a recent statement.
“Lacking the space to properly store, sort, repack and distribute food products, the Clark County Food Bank routinely turns down donations of bulk food and large shipments of fresh produce,” the statement says. The warehouse also lacks sufficient space for volunteer labor, meetings and other necessary support work.
Meanwhile, hunger and need have grown as the ongoing economic downturn takes its toll on family incomes and kitchen tables. Youde noted that Clark County’s unemployment rate is the highest in the state. It’s estimated that 14,000 Clark County children go hungry every day.
The food bank was hoping to build its own headquarters on the landscape of Clark County’s developing Heritage Farm on Northeast 78th Street — intended to be a showcase for all things agricultural — but the cost of development there proved too great. So last year, the food bank reset its sights — on the Cold Creek Industrial Park off Northeast Minnehaha Street on 40th Avenue.
Now, with the end of its capital campaign in sight, the food bank hopes to start building its new home as soon as the spring, with a projected opening in the fall.
The 22,000-square-foot new facility would be nearly three times as large as the current 8,000-square-foot warehouse, with built-in refrigeration and freezers to replace the outside storage containers that were donated almost 20 years ago as a “temporary solution,” according to development officer Greg Flakus. Those containers aren’t large enough to accommodate forklifts, and are hard to use in bad weather.
The new building would also have a better-designed layout and enough room to efficiently move and repackage bulk donations.
Youde said the best way to donate to the campaign is via the Clark County Food Bank website: http://www.clarkcountyfoodbank.org. Or call Flakus at 360-573-7027.
Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525 or scott.hewitt@columbian.com.
