GRANVILLE — The Granville food pantry is about to get a permanent home.
The All Saints Hall, located at 3 Morrison Ave. just behind Veterans Park, will soon be the location of the newly incorporated Granville Area Food Pantry and Community Service Inc.
It took nearly two years to help the food pantry find a new, permanent home. The food pantry has been housed for more than 30 years at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 23 Bulkley Ave.
“We needed more space, and they didn’t really have more space,” said the Rev. Jerry McKinney, pastor of the United Church of Granville and president of the food pantry board.
When Lions Club member Ron Barrett heard the All Saints Hall was available for purchase, he approached his fellow Lions about possibly buying the building and donating it to the food pantry.
All Saints Hall was originally the Polish Catholic Church and then became just a meeting hall for the Roman Catholics. The white church building sits on Morrison Avenue just behind Veterans Park and only two doors down from the Granville Senior Citizens Center, which coincidentally also used to be a church that was purchased and donated by the Lions Club, Barrett said.
The Lions International celebrated its 100th anniversary in July and urged local Lions organizations to complete a Centennial Project. The Granville Lions decided to make this its Centennial Project, Barrett said.
“The members of the Lions Club came to us and said, ‘If you could own a building, would you?’” said McKinney.
But the $52,000 transaction wasn’t without its challenges. What they thought would take only months took almost two years of negotiations, paperwork and a survey. The food pantry had to incorporate and establish nonprofit status as well.
“It was kind of a paperwork nightmare,” Barrett said.
The paperwork was finalized Nov. 29. The food pantry hopes to be moved in by spring.
“The building is going to allow for more than just a food pantry,” McKinney said. “We’ve got more space to do more things.”
The Mettowee Valley Ecumenical Council, which operates a coat closet for winter clothing, will also move into the building. The Boy Scouts and Alcoholics Anonymous already use the building weekly. And the village uses the building as bathroom facilities for events at the park, such as the summer concert series and the winter festival.
The food pantry, which helps 40 to 50 families a month, wants to become more of a “serve-yourself” pantry, where people can choose which foods they want to take home.
“We’re also aware that we don’t serve nearly the number of people we could be serving,” McKinney said.
He’s hoping that will change with the new location, which boasts handicapped accessibility and available parking.
The Lions Club is always looking for new members, said Bob Tardie, the Granville Lions Club president. The Lions Club, which sells Telescope Furniture out of its warehouse on Lions Lane in the summer, does projects to make the less fortunate more fortunate.
“We’re just really proud that the Lions Club was able to step in and make something happen when things looked kind of iffy,” said Linda Ellingsworth, president of the Granville Lions Club Foundation. “It was like a best possible outcome.”
