Mill Creek breaks ground on new, larger food bank

MILL CREEK — Mill Creek Community Food Bank broke ground Monday after receiving $200,000 in donations following extensive damage from a fallen tree.

Executive Director of Hope Creek Charitable Foundation Tom Sweeney announced plans for an 80-foot-long and 56-foot-wide warehouse during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday. The new structure will eventually store and distribute food to the Mill Creek community.

The Hope Creek Charitable Foundation operates the Mill Creek Community Food Bank and the Backpacks of Hope program, which collaborates with schools to provide food to eligible students.

The building will be much larger and more usable than the three portable buildings that the food bank had already outgrown, which were heavily damaged by a tree that fell during a windstorm in February. The food bank serves 450 families, Sweeney said — almost 1,300 individuals.

“But still, it was a place to secure the food away from rodents, and now we don’t even have that.” Hope Creek Community Outreach Director Corina Wilson said. Now, food is stored in various locations, including the large service tent and pallets outside, not fully protected from the elements.

After the portable buildings were damaged, the food bank reached out to the community for help. They started a buy-a-brick campaign, community donors stepped up and the Mill Creek Rotary Club donated $20,000.

“The program, like this building, is all about providing consistency, dignity and care where it’s needed most,” Rotary Club of Mill Creek President Tracey Kirkley said during public remarks.

A total of 220 donors raised a little over $200,000, Sweeney said, funding sufficient for what he calls Phase One, which includes the warehouse offering more stable storage and additional space to create a more store-like atmosphere.

“It’s really hard to humble yourself to go through the food bank,” Sweeney said. A shopping experience is more approachable and makes it easier to ask for help, he said.

Phase Two includes a welcome center, a space to give away clothes, a restroom, plumbing, insulation, an HVAC system and offices for life coaching.

“It gives us that extra, ‘How can we help you navigate the systems that you need to navigate so that we can get you out of the line and back to life,’” Sweeney said. “That’s really the mission for us.”

Fundraising is ongoing to facilitate Phase Two.

“A lot of times, you need community to come together and do things. Food banks are where you see that epitomized,” council member Jared Mead said during public remarks. “There’s a chance to turn lemons into lemonade and create a bigger facility and operate even stronger than we have before and serve even more people than we have before.”

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay