PORT ANGELES — Ground was broken Wednesday for expanded facilities for the Salvation Army.
Soon, a fundraising campaign will begin — even though the $1.4 million project is already funded.
About 150 people helped celebrate the beginning of the renovation of the former NAPA Auto Parts store and auto repair garage at 123 S. Peabody St. into a new Salvation Army dining room, food pantry and offices.
“It’s going to be triple the size of our current dining room,” said Salvation Army Major Cherilee Ramsey.
Cost includes building
The cost of the project includes the purchase of the building more than two years ago.
Nearly $900,000 came from the Port Angeles Salvation Army’s trust accounts, which are created by those who remember the agency in their wills, said Salvation Army Major Scott Ramsey, commanding officer of the Port Angeles Corps.
The nearly $600,000 that came from the Northwest regional Salvation Army office must be repaid, he said.
The local advisory board soon will begin planning for fundraising efforts to raise that amount, he added.
Hoch Construction of Port Angeles was awarded the contract to complete the extensive remodel, designed by Lindberg and Smith Architects of Port Angeles.
Expanded dining room
The dining room currently in use at 323 E. Second St. can seat 40, and the kitchen has two home-type kitchen oven and ranges and several small freezers, Cherilee Ramsey said.
When it opens late this year or early next year, the dining room in the new facility, which is across the street from the current location, will seat 175 and have a full commercial kitchen with walk-in freezers, she said.
“We’re hoping it will be open for Christmas dinner,” Cherilee Ramsey said.
It also will include a large foyer, where clients can take shelter from the rain and cold as they wait in line for a hot breakfast and lunch meals served by the Salvation Army.
Store and storage areas of the building will become the dining room, kitchen and management offices, while the former garage will be a new — and better secured — food bank.
The current food bank is operated out of a storage trailer behind the Second Street facility.
The trailer was burglarized in October 2011, and thieves made off with an estimated 2,000 pounds of food.
The Salvation Army serves free meals Mondays through Fridays: breakfast from 8:45 a.m. to 9:14 a.m., and lunch from noon to 1 p.m.
A total of 28,092 meals were served through the end of May.
The church serves about 300 families each month through its food pantry.
It holds church services at 11 a.m. Sundays.
For more information or to donate to the Salvation Army, phone 360-452-7679.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
