on 03-23-2009 01:05

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

CENTRAL FALLS - With rent going up and the facility busier than ever, the Blackstone Valley Emergency Food Center is looking for a new home.

The facility's director, Connie Brochu, said the non-profit food pantry has been serving area residents in need for the past 19 years. The operation began as a cooperative effort between Notre Dame Church and 13 other area churches.
For the past 15 years, the facility has been operating out of a building at 402 Dexter St. The all-volunteer group had been sub-leasing space from Project Hope, which occupied the other half of the privately owned commercial building. However, when Project Hope, run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, recently moved to a new location on Broadway, the landlord raised the rent by $10 per square foot - an amount that is not palatable to the food pantry.
According to Brochu, the increase would have meant paying $1,800 per month. After some further negotiations, the landlady came down to a price of $1,500 per month, but this is still too much for the busy non-profit, she said. Knowing that the food center is looking to move, the landlady agreed to a rent of $1,000 on a month-to-month basis.
"But, we could be asked to leave at any time is she gets another tenant," noted Brochu.
Brochu noted that the rent is going up at a time when the facility has more clients than ever. She said the food center serves about 450 to 500 families a month, amounting to around 1,500 people. It is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and on Thursdays from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
The current 1,800-square-foot facility is cramped for both the volunteers and the clients, and the small parking lot out front is inadequate for the amount of people coming to the center, Brochu said. She also said that the rent increase would be unaffordable for the operation, which relies on donations.
From the original 14 churches that were involved in the food pantry's operation, consolidation has reduced the number to nine, she added.
Ideally, Brochu said, the staff would like to find a space with about 3,000 square feet. This way, instead of pre-packaging most of the food in bags as is done now, the area could be set up more like a grocery store, offering client choice. "Sometimes, they don't like what we give them, and we find it out in the parking lot," she said.
The food center also needs a location that is handicapped accessible and has doors large enough to receive pallets of food items that are delivered by truck. "We're looking for a place with bigger space for reasonable rent," said Brochu. She said the group came close to finding such as location at the former Paramount Cards site, but the deal fell through. "We're still looking. But some places want $3,000 for rent. We can't afford that," she said.
Sue Deslauriers, a longtime volunteer, also noted that with the current economy, the food center's usage is higher than ever. Clients must come in and apply, bringing a photo identification, a current rent receipt, and income information. If they have children, they must also show an identification for each child. In the past, clients have brought additional unrelated children along to try and receive more food items. A client is allowed to come in once a month to receive food.
Anyone wishing to contact Brochu can do so at 724-7170.