Donations are filling the shelves at the Durango Food Bank, where the former kitchen has been converted into storage to hold the holiday plenty.
Space is a premium at the 2,000-square-foot building in Bodo Industrial Park, so in January, the nonprofit will launch a capital campaign for a new building to better serve the estimated 12,000 people who use the food bank each year, said Sarah Smith, director of the food bank.
Many of the nonprofit’s clients are working people who are earning too much to qualify for public assistant to purchase food but are still food-insecure, she said. About 44 percent of the nonprofit’s clients are children and seniors, who are on fixed incomes.
The nonprofit’s goal is to raise about $1.2 million for a 6,000- to 10,000-square-foot building. The square footage of the building could depend on the amount of vertical storage it offers.
The nonprofit is examining a range of options, including constructing a new building and remodeling a building. The nonprofit could also invest in a larger facility that it could share with other nonprofits.
More space would allow clients of the food bank to select more of their own food, rather than receiving prepacked boxes.
“The goal is to efficiently use donor funds and resources,” Smith said.
“If we are just giving people food because it’s their box, that’s not really the best use of donor resources because they may take it home and they may not want it. They may not use it,” Smith said.
For example, a container of lard might not be useful to everyone, she said.
More space would also allow the food bank to extend its hours and host larger groups of volunteers, which would ease the burden on a small core of volunteers, she said.
More storage also means the food bank could keep the food it receives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its warehouse so that those who qualify for the staples can pick them up at any time. Right now, those who qualify for the commodities have an hour-long window each month to pick up the food at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
A larger parking lot is also important for the facility because fender benders are common in the tight lot and semitrailers can’t enter the lot to make deliveries, Smith said.
While the holiday season has been busy with food drives, Smith is concerned that the upcoming year could be challenging for the nonprofit because pending tax reform and changes to the charitable tax deduction may reduce charitable giving nationwide by billions of dollars, she said, citing the Tax Policy Center.
Donations can be mailed to Durango Food Bank, P.O. Box 156, Durango, CO 81302. The nonprofit can also accept donations via credit card over the phone at 375-2672.
Those who cannot donate money to the project can get involved in the committee overseeing the capital campaign, Smith said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
