The Clark County Food Bank has secured a site to build a new warehouse and distribution center in the Cold Creek Industrial Park off Northeast Minnehaha Street on Northeast 40th Avenue. It plans to start building the new facility early next year for an opening in the fall.
The charity’s plans will hinge on its ability to raise the last $427,500 of the $4.2 million capital campaign by Nov. 15. If the organization is unable to do so, it will lose a $1,470,000 commitment from the state Legislature, which could derail the project.
Jim Youde, food bank vice chairman and campaign co-chairman, said the organization doesn’t plan on losing the commitment.
“We’re not even considering that as an option,” he said. “We’re close to the goal and just need a few people to help us get over the finish line.”
The Clark County Food Bank supplies 14 smaller pantries in the county.
The current food bank occupies an 8,000-square-foot building in Hazel Dell that Youde says is inadequate, inefficient and outdated. The aging facility, paired with a growing need for food by county residents who are hurting economically, inspired the charity to start looking for a new facility several years ago. Things have only gotten worse.
“The demand of need for food by folks who are hurting economically has been growing the last few years and is continuing to grow,” Youde said, noting the 13.9percent unemployment rate in Clark County is the highest in the state.
The new facility would be nearly three times as large and feature built-in refrigeration and freezers. Freezers at the current warehouse are outside storage containers that were meant to be a temporary solution 10 years ago. They aren’t large enough for forklifts and are hard to use in the rain and snow, Youde said.
The new building would also have a better-designed layout and enough room to efficiently move and repackage products as necessary.
In November 2009, the food bank abandoned plans to build a new warehouse on the grounds of the former Washington State University research farm in Hazel Dell. The county offered to give it a strip of land for free, but the charity’s board of directors decided it couldn’t cover the developments costs in its $3.7 million budget.
