New building planned for Taylorville Food Pantry - The State Journal-Register

New building planned for Taylorville Food Pantry - The State Journal-Register

TAYLORVILLE — After using space in a former orthodontist’s office for nearly two years, the Taylorville Food Pantry should have a new home sometime next year.

“It was always in our minds to have a permanent home,” said Steve Robinson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylorville. “We started raising money and got enough to put up a building.”

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the 2,400-square-foot metal building will be at noon Monday at the northwest corner of East Main and Water streets on land donated for the project.

The Taylorville Ministerial Association operates the food pantry, which has been in existence for more than 30 years, Robinson said.

The Ministerial Association is open to all churches in the community, and representatives from 12 or more churches usually attend the organization’s monthly meetings, he said.

“We do some fellowship things together, but the food pantry is our big project,” Robinson said.

He said the pantry used to be in the First Baptist Church, but the church sold its building and the pantry has been using space donated by Taylorville attorney Louis DePaepe for the past couple of years.

The new building will have storage and shelving for the food items and plans are to install a kitchen.

“We will be taking over the summer lunch program for children and will start hosting that out of the building,” Robinson said.

He said a kitchen wasn’t in the original plans for the estimated $150,000 cost of the building and that fundraising continues.

“We got some grants and private donations and civic organizations raised funds for us,” Robinson said.

The Rev. Rodney Blomquist of Trinity Lutheran Church in Taylorville said the building will be warehouse style.

“One of the biggest advantages will be for the volunteers and workers who will have a space large enough to maneuver, and we’ll have enough room to buy in bulk,” he said. “And we won’t have to move because it will be ours.”

Robinson said the building has been delivered, but the contractor has another job to finish before it is erected.

“We will be operating from there sometime after the first of the year,” he said.

The Taylorville Food Pantry serves the Taylorville area with the help of the Central Illinois Food Bank and local grocery stores. About 200 families use the food pantry each month.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in clients over the 12 years I’ve been here,” Robinson said. “Not drastic, but we served 10 to 15 families a month 12 years ago.”

Page 2 of 2 - Blomquist said 30 years ago when he came to Taylorville, the pantry served “maybe 300 people a year.”

“Now it is that many in a month,” Blomquist said.

Robinson said the food pantry is fortunate to have the Taylorville community behind it.

“Luckily we have no overhead as far as personnel,” he said. “The real good support we have from the community has allowed it to keep going the way it has.”