No place like home: Wallace Food Bank looks for new location
CAROLYN BOSTICK | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 months, 2 weeks AGO
Volunteers Tricia Ross and Dani Lundquist at the Wallace Food Bank prepare for a distribution day out of the Prayer Station. The food bank is looking for a new home after the lease agreement for the church expired at the end of 2024.
Courtesy photo
The Wallace Food Bank is looking for a new home with more accessibility than is currently available at 215 Fourth St., Wallace.
The Wallace Food Bank served 93 people at its last distribution day of the year in December.
Carolyn Bostick has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press since June 2023. She covers Shoshone County and Coeur d'Alene. Carolyn previously worked in Utica, New York at the Observer-Dispatch for almost seven years before briefly working at The Inquirer and Mirror in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since she moved to the Pacific Northwest from upstate New York in 2021, she's performed with the Spokane Shakespeare Society for three summers. | January 7, 2025 1:00 AM
WALLACE — The Wallace Food Bank is searching for a new place to call home.
Last winter, the nonprofit began looking for a new building that better fit their needs, but the clock is now ticking down on locating a new spot to base their operations. For years, the group has called the Prayer Station basement home, but the church’s lease expired at the end of 2024 and their future tenure at the Fourth Street venue is uncertain.
With that loose thread in mind, food bank president Michael Hoffman is appealing to the community to find a new venue.
Their dream building would be about 1,500 square feet and based on the ground level so that there is no barrier to accessing the building with mobility issues.
The next food distribution date is still slated for Thursday Jan. 16 and there are no plans to store food.
The food bank has been checking with other local churches about the possibility of relocating, but the group so far has struck out on venues that had an availability or interest.
“We’re not leaving or out yet,” Hoffman said.
At the December distribution day, the Wallace Food Bank helped outfit 93 individuals with food.
Hoffman said the agency is still waiting to hear back if they will be able to continue operations or be completely without a facility to help feed people struggling with food insecurity in the Silver Valley.
The group is also looking for new volunteers to help with distribution, inventory, social media, grant writing, communications, events, treasurer/financial and media/marketing.
Over the last year and a half, the food bank has added a refrigerator and freezer to be able to take on fresh food from the Post Falls Food Bank as well as nonperishable items.
Community partnerships for the food bank have also added Eat Smart Idaho demonstrations and samples as well as seasonal recipe cards through the University of Idaho.
Food distribution takes place from 3-5 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month at 214 N. Second St., Osburn and from 3 to 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month at 215 Fourth St., Wallace.
For more information about potential locations or to find out more about how to help, contact Michael Hoffman at 916-764-9252 or by email at [email protected].
The Wallace Food Bank is looking for a new home with more accessibility than currently available at 215 4th St, Wallace.
The Wallace Food Bank served 93 people at its last distribution day of the year in December.ARTICLES BY CAROLYN BOSTICK
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