HELENA – Helena Food Share completes construction on its brand new 20,000 square foot facility.

“By bringing everything together here, we can work more efficiently and provide a better service,” says Bruce Day, managing director of Helena Food Share.

Helena Food Share says one in seven Helena residents is hungry, one in five children don’t have enough to eat, and one in five seniors don’t know where their next meal will come from. Day says this building was essential to meeting the community’s needs.

“With the kitchen and warehouse, we can provide food to more people. And we expect that demand will continue to grow as the Helena region develops,” says Day.

Construction on the Community Food Resource Center began around August of last year. They hope to be finished sometime in September and open to the public in October. The building cost about $12 million and was funded by state and federal as well as local grants.

The new facility is designed to meet the growing needs in Helena and allow the team to consolidate from two buildings into one.

There will be an interior reception hall for customers, a market, a commercial kitchen, a large warehouse, loading docks, a common room, a cold room, a freezer room and a room that can be converted between the two, as well as offices and a break room for volunteers.

Day himself will retire at the end of this year. While the organization is still looking for a successor, Day hopes that Helena Food Share will continue to contribute to the community even after he leaves the organization.

“You know, my hope for Helena Food Share and my expectation is that this organization continues to focus on its mission, which is to provide food to the people in the community and serve them with dignity and respect. And that’s what this whole building is about: making sure that the people who come to Helena Food Share have everything they need,” Day says.