NEW BEDFORD — Three tenants at 593 Kempton St. — American Red Cross Food Pantry, PACE YouthBuild and House of Music — have to find a new home by the end of March.
The state says it would like to see its building developed and "put on the City’s tax rolls."
The 1893 building is the former St. Mary’s Orphanage and was later used as a training place for K9s on the police department narcotics unit, according to The Standard-Times archives.
A Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance spokesman said neither the state nor the city has a use for the property and there’s currently “no active disposition” of the property. Legislation of 2011 gave DCAMM authority to dispose of the property.
The move has the current tenants making contingency plans for the near future.
“We intend to have a mobile market starting in April,” said Jeff Hall, spokesman for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. The organization has occupied space in the building since 2011.
The organization, which serves about 800 families per month out of the New Bedford location, hopes to have the mobile food pantry at the 593 Kempton St. parking lot. The plan is pending state approval, but verbal assurance has been given, Hall said.
The Red Cross has similar mobile markets in other cities such as Lawrence and Lynn, Hall said. However, in New Bedford the mobile market, a large refrigerated delivery truck, is set to be open once a month instead of Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m.
Hall said families are eligible to receive the service from the Red Cross once per month. He did acknowledge that the food pantry will be serving three weeks worth of people in one day.
“While it is change, we still want to make sure we can deliver services in New Bedford,” he said.
People Acting in Community Endeavors (PACE) YouthBuild, a national youth development program serving ages 16-24 without a high school diploma, provides preparation for the HiSET exam and teaches constructional skills, leadership development and community service. The organization has been in the building for about five years.
The organization is set to make its new home at the former Kempton School on Shawmut Avenue, according to program Director Gloria Williams. It occupies the second floor of 593 Kempton St. for classrooms and part of the basement to teach youth about building and construction.
Lisa Mello-Frost, program manager said packing has begun and some things will have to be left behind like artwork students have painted on the walls, such as the program’s name over a staircase with a globe beside it. Also, in a fenced-off community garden at the back of the parking lot, fruits and vegetables in student-built beds that are expected to return, will have to be tossed out to relocate, Mello-Frost said.
“This building is very functional for space,” Williams said, noting it’s also free.
YouthBuild received about $1 million grant for three years from the Department of Labor, but it can’t start with new students because the move will take an estimated three to four weeks, Williams said.
“We can’t teach education if we’re moving the education department,” Williams said.
“They need that consistency,” Mello-Frost said.
During the interim, the current six students are set to be paid to help with the move and will continue to be assisted.
“We’ve often been warned that something has to be done about this building,” and that occupying the space was temporary, said Deborah Bastoni, a founder of House of Music and president of the organization’s board. “For years they’ve been telling us this.”
The nonprofit organization meets on Saturdays and acts as a performing arts center. It’s existed since 2003 and has called 593 Kempton home for about seven years.
“We’re not going to panic, and we’re not going to close. We’re going to stay open for our kids,” Bastoni said.
Bastoni added that they plan to launch a fundraiser to help find a temporary or permanent home.
Follow Aimee Chiavaroli on Twitter @AimeeC_SCT.
