Bishop comes to town to bless the abundance

A new 760-square-foot storage and distribution facility will increase efficiency and convenience for Moscow Food Bank volunteers and customers, food bank director Linda Nickels said Saturday.

Bishop Peter Christensen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise blessed the new addition in front of more than 30 people Saturday at the food bank. Nickels and Christensen cut a red ribbon to signify the opening of the new structure.

The new facility is adjacent to the existing Moscow Food Bank and St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which hosts the food bank, on North Polk Street. The new space includes shelves and a large refrigerator and freezer for food.

“The freezer and refrigerator space is going to be great because I don’t have to buy eggs for the week,” Nickels said. “I can buy eggs for maybe a couple weeks or, you know, a longer period of time.”

Nickels said the new structure will allow customers to pick up food and the food bank more space for inventory. The basement, main floor and attic of the older food bank is stocked with food. Volunteers — many of them older — climb up and down stairs to stock and retrieve that food.

“(The new space is) in one big room instead of multiple little rooms that we had to move stuff around all the time,” Nickels said.

The older building will continue to be used for storage, Nickels said.

She said the new space will be more convenient for customers because it is close to the parking lot and it is Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.

Palouse-area contractor MGC Enterprises built the facility over several months. Money for the addition was raised through church and community donations.

Steve Busch and his wife, Donna, managed the project. He said he realized the food bank needed additional room two years ago.

“(Nickels) has the volunteer base but she doesn’t have the facility, so we just felt bad about what she was doing inside and said we can do better than this,” Steve Busch said.

The food bank serves about 1,000 clients per month, according to an email from St. Mary’s Church Rev. Joseph McDonald. It receives donations from private individuals, groups and organizations and the Idaho Food Bank distributes food twice a month to the Moscow Food Bank, he said.

Nickels said the IFB has already delivered food to the new facility and customers collected the boxed food.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, food bank customers circle items they need on an inventory sheet and volunteers retrieve the items from inside the food bank instead of allowing customers into the building.

The Moscow Food Bank is open 2-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Deliveries also are an option.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.