PORT TOWNSEND — When a client asked if she was sad to move the Port Townsend Food Bank from the home it has had for three years, Director Shirley Moss answered without hesitation.
“No way. We’re ready to go,” she said. “We’ve been looking forward to this for a while now.”
This week, Moss, a bounty of food, an army of volunteers and a growing list of clients who visit the food bank every week spent their last Wednesday afternoon at the warehouse at 731 W. Park Ave., which houses the local nonprofit that opens to provide free food one day per week.
Next week, the food bank will begin a new chapter in the Mountain View Commons building, 1919 Blaine St., where it will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We’re making the move all day” today, Moss said. “We should be ready to go next week, and not miss a beat. That building is absolutely better in every single way.”
Moss said the new location will enable clients to use a bus route that stops outside it at the corner of Blaine and Walker streets.
The room itself is much larger than the old place, it has more space for refrigerators and freezers, and the rent is cheaper, she said.
Also, the move is well-timed, given the chill in the air, since clients will be able to wait inside the building as opposed to standing in line outside at its old location.
Moss said that more people show up during the colder months and the winter holidays.
That’s on top of the skyrocketing use the food bank has seen since the national recession began.
More using food bank
“The number of people using food banks has doubled in the last year and a half,” she said.
“We used to have between 120 and 140 families every Wednesday when we’re open. Now we always go over 200. Even seeing 250 isn’t uncommon.”
Moss said the record for the Port Townsend Food Bank was set the Wednesday before last Thanksgiving, when 282 families came for food.
However, in September alone, the food bank added 166 new clients to their roster of people coming in.
Moss said through the first three quarters of this year, January through September, the Port Townsend Food Bank has served 22,883 clients and given out 311,953 pounds of food.
Lease from city
The Port Townsend City Council unanimously approved the lease of the new space in October, allowing the food bank to move in to the new Mountain View offices — the former site of Mountain View Elementary, which the Port Townsend School District is leasing to the city for the next five years.
The agreement gives the food bank three classrooms at the facility to store and dispense food to those who are looking for a little extra in their kitchens each week.
The lease agreement has the food bank paying $200 a month in rent and also paying a surcharge on electricity used.
The food bank also intends to upgrade the floors in the rooms from carpet to tile and upgrade some electrical utilities.
“It’s a modest amount,” Timmons said of the lease amount. “But [what they do] is in support of the city.”
Timmons said the addition of the food bank to the building was part of a bigger picture.
“Part of what we are talking about [for the location] is developing community gardens with produce going to the food bank.”
Timmons also said the plan was to eventually lure the Port Townsend Farmer’s Market to the site, so there was a link between the gardens, the food bank and the market.
For more information about the food bank, phone Moss at 360-531-0275.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
