Council to consider renovation funds to assist St. Vincent de Paul food pantry
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, 10:30 a.m. — Mayor John Royalty and the Bardstown City Council will consider a request for funding tonight to renovate portions of the city-owned COBEC building — the former Old Kentucky Home Middle School on East Muir — for use by the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry operation.
In a memo to the council by Greg Ashworth, the city’s risk manager, St. Vincent wants to use the former school’s cafeteria, kitchen and two unused rooms on the ground floor for its food pantry operation, which helps provide food for 400 to 500 families a month.
The council is being asked to provide the $20,000 necessary to renovate the areas for the food pantry’s use. The money will be used for new flooring, paint, lighting and repair of the walk-in freezer and walk-in cooler. According to Ashworth’s memo, St. Vincent will use volunteer labor to complete the renovations.
Once the areas are renovated, St. Vincent will pay $10,000 per year in rent for the use of the space.
The memo included letters from other community service groups backing the idea, including Tri-County United Way; Feeding America; Bethany Haven; Central Kentucky Community Action; and the Nelson County School’s youth and family resource centers.
Once renovations are completed, St. Vincent could have their food pantry in operation as early as April.
The council’s meeting begins tonight at 7 p.m. in the City Hall annex on Xavier Drive.
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