Construction of Clark County Adventist Community Services’ bigger, better food pantry in central Vancouver is moving along. The project, though, is taking longer and is more involved than originally thought.
Initially, the organization thought renovations would be done in late fall or early winter, but there have been some hiccups dealing with the rundown 70-year-old building, and the organization didn’t get building permits from the city until last month.
It’ll be worth it when the project is completed in March, said Clark County Adventist’s executive director, Eleanor Hetke. Besides the “bones” of the building — the foundation and some of the framework — it’ll be new.
The new pantry at 3114 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. will be larger and more organized than the current space at 3200 N.E. St. Johns Blvd. The two properties are less than a mile apart.
Despite being open just twice weekly, Clark County Adventist is one of the largest distributors of food from the Clark County Food Bank. An estimated 25 tons of food and 2,000 to 3,000 clothing items are given away every month from the current 3,800-square-foot space.
“I get phone calls: ‘Have you moved yet?’ ” Hetke said.
Project history
Clark County Adventist is sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Community Church of Vancouver, which is part of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The building was purchased from the American Red Cross in July for $560,000. Remodeling costs could be around $400,000 or $500,000, which will also be covered by donations.
“We’re praising the Lord for that,” said Dan Weston, who’s on the planning committee.
Some costs were saved by volunteers from the church and other groups, such as Maranatha Volunteers International, who did most of the work tearing out old materials and ripping up layers of flooring. They discovered some materials were rotted, such as the sill plate, and needed to be replaced. All the siding is being redone, too, which wasn’t part of the original plan. Weston said it’s obvious the old building has been remodeled multiple times.
The property had a building and a garage, which contractors have since connected to create one larger building. Trucks will unload food through the garage door, and then that food can be sorted and put onto shelves. They’ve also added on to the building to create a laundry room for cleaning and sorting clothing donations, and another addition that will be a break room for volunteers.
A covered walkway will be built at the front of the building. At the current location off St. Johns Boulevard, there’s no area where clients can wait out of the elements.
Hetke said that when everything is complete, she hopes to hire a counselor who will help clients find jobs and housing. Additionally, there will be a community room where people can take classes such as gardening classes. It’s the kind of services that can help people get back on their feet and reduce their reliance on food and clothing pantries like Clark County Adventist Community Services.
