TOWER- After more than 25 years of serving the community from the basement of the Timberjay building, the Tower Area Food Shelf has moved its operations to the old St. James Presbyterian Church building. It’s only a two minute walk from their old location, but food shelf organizers are hoping the new space will be more accessible to patrons and allow the volunteer operation to offer more food options.
“It’s better parking there for more cars, it’s handicap accessible. There’s no stairs, easy for wheelchairs to get in,” Tower Area Food Shelf Director Hugh Wood said. “It’s twice as big as [the old space]. We’re going to be able to offer more food choices.”
The food shelf started looking for a more spacious property last July, and when the St. James Presbyterian Church – first organized in Tower in 1884 – hit the market one month later, Wood informed the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency and, after an inspection, the AEOA recommended buying the property. The AEOA oversees the Tower Area Food Shelf as well as ones in Babbitt, Ely, and Aurora among others.
The food shelf purchased and renovated the building using saved funds, as well as grant money for a new HVAC system. Volunteers with carpentry experience spent a little over six months on flooring, woodworking, and painting to ready the space for use.
“Myself and four other guys that volunteered, we probably put close to 200-man-hours in there, taking out the carpet and everything,” Wood said. “You know, you can’t have carpet in a grocery store.”
Shelves stocked with food are now in the spaces once occupied with pews. Where the pastor’s lectern once stood, an office desk now sits. In the now empty basement, food shelf organizers are considering a small retail outlet.
“We’re thinking of turning it into a thrift shop to help with expenses, utilities and all that in the future,” Wood said. “That’s something that we’re kicking around, the board of directors, they’re all thinking about it. Basically, right now we’re focusing on getting moved into the new building and getting it set up. Then when we get up and running, that’s when we’ll probably start doing some planning.”
The basement has a small kitchen area which Wood said may be used to host cooking classes in the future.
“We have a lady that volunteers and she is thinking about doing cooking classes there and showing people what can be made with the food that we give out,” Wood said.
Now moved into their new space, food shelf volunteers are rearranging their floor plan for a more organized layout.
“We’re going to organize it kind of like a grocery store,” Wood said. “Have baking goods in this area, canned vegetables in this area. You know, try to make it convenient, like a grocery store.”
The Timberjay has no current plans for the basement space. The Tower Area Food Shelf is open the third Tuesday of each month from 2:30-5 p.m.