Sharing the produce: Harold and Donna Beckett of New Hampton, receive produce from Mike Penley, who has a truck garden at his home north of Gilman City. Penley regularly visits the food pantry to share his produce. The Becketts have been volunteers at the food pantry for several years.
The Harrison County Food Pantry Board of Directors has tentatively decided to lease a portion of the Eckard’s warehouse building as a new location for its food distribution service.
The food pantry’s lease on space in the basement in the Bethany senior citizen building wasn’t renewed by the Harrison County Council on Aging, which also is looking for a new location. The lease is set to expire on July 31.
Robert Skeens, chairman of the food pantry board, said his organization hopes that the Council on Aging will allow the food pantry to stay at the senior center a little past the lease expiration while the agency works out arrangements to move into the new site.
“It is going to take a lot of expense to move in there,” Skeens said.
Skeens described the negotiations on the Eckard’s facility as in the “preliminary stages.” The warehouse facility, located north of Eckard’s, would provide about 3,000 square feet for the food pantry.
The food pantry has been looking for a new site ever since being notified by the Council on Aging that its lease would not be renewed. Council officials explained that they did not feel that it would be fair to the food pantry to extend the lease at a time when they are looking for a new site for the senior citizen center. The Bethany Multipurpose Center is located in the former Hub Restaurant building which has been increasingly costly to maintain. The Council on Aging has not announced a new location for the senior center, although officials confirm that they are actively considering the purchase of the now vacant RLDS (Community of Christ) church near the elementary school.
Skeens said the food pantry wants to assure that there will be no interruption of services to the 700 persons who receive food from the pantry.
“A lot of people depend upon us for their food supplements,” Skeens said.
Skeens said the food pantry depends entirely on volunteers and donations of food from Second Harvest and local businesses like Walmart and Hy-Vee and truck gardeners.
“The volunteers are very dedicated to what we do,” he said.
He cited volunteers Harold and Donna Beckett of New Hampton.
“They are always the first ones here in the morning,” Skeens said. He also pointed out that Johnny Hammond makes daily rounds in his pickup truck picking up donated food from local suppliers.