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closeIt almost sounds too good to be true.
A nonprofit agency takes on a major building project and it gets done on time, on budget, and without going into hock.
That's the happy situation with the new Bellingham Food Bank building. A special reception this week will thank members of the three Bellingham Rotary clubs who made it happen.
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SEE DONATIONS AT WORK
- A reception and tour to honor Rotary Club support of the new Bellingham Food Bank building at 1824 Ellis St. will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 31.
- A public open house is planned for Saturday, Sept. 13.
Architectural: Zervas Group, $22,500; Grinstad & Wagner, $17,000; Stewart & King, $13,300.
Engineering: Freeland & Associates, $10,000; Krech Ojard & Associates, $9,000.
Demolition: Ram Construction, $45,500; Northwest Recycling, $19,100; Ludtke-Pacific Trucking, $10,000.
Construction: Pearson Construction, $80,000; Builders Alliance, $30,000; Graycom Masonry $30,000; Blythe Plumbing & Heating, $28,000; Eagle Contracting & Steel, $19,800; Materials Testing & Consulting, $10,000.
HOURS OF OPERATION
The Food Bank distributes food to the public from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Office hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Details: 676-0392.
"They were in early and made it a reality," said Mike Cohen, the food bank's executive director. "They gave the project some early legitimacy."
The project was the first large, joint undertaking by Bellingham Rotary Club, Bellingham Bay Rotary Club and Sunrise Rotary Club.
The clubs got things going with an initial cash pledge of $250,000. That prompted other donors and state agencies to chip in, and Rotary members used their connections to roust up nearly $500,000 in donated services, materials and labor, including much from their own businesses.
"The synergy really gets us pumped up," said Margaret Curtis, president of Rotary Club of Bellingham.
The project's $2.3 million price tag included demolition of the old building at 1824 Ellis St., creation of a temporary food bank downtown, and design and construction of the new building at the Ellis Street site.
Cash donations topped $1.6 million, including a $400,000 state grant, $300,000 from the city of Bellingham and $300,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The food bank, itself, donated $100,000 from its reserves, but didn't have to pony up more.
"We're going to be able to do this without taking any debt on," Cohen said. "That was our goal going in."
The old, 5,000-square-foot building was small, leaky and, well, old. Built in 1929 as a foundry, it likely would have crumbled in an earthquake.
The new building is nearly twice as large. It's designed with food bank operations in mind, and it's inviting - with lots of natural light, high ceilings and a pleasing brick facade.
"It's a warehouse, but it doesn't need to look like just another warehouse," Cohen said.
It's steel-solid, too, because it's designed to serve as a public response center in a major emergency, even an earthquake.
With demand for food on the rise, the extra space came just in time.
In the old building, the food bank handled about 5,000 to 5,500 visits and distributed about 125,000 pounds of food each month.
In the new building, demand reaches up to 8,000 a visits a month, with about 170,000 pounds of food going out the door.
Bellingham Food Bank also distributes about 700,000 pounds of food a year to smaller food banks in Whatcom and San Juan counties.
Despite all of the activity, the food bank didn't miss a day distributing food to the public as it moved to its temporary location, then back to the new building, which opened June 30.
"We're in the business of feeding people," Cohen said, "so we couldn't close for a single day."
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