Helena Food Share starts construction on a new facility

Helena, Montana – On Thursday, July 27, 2023, Helena Food Share hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the location on Boulder Avenue where they want to erect a new 20,000 square foot facility.

Bruce Day, the executive director of Helena Food Share, was pleased to see the community’s support at the ceremony.

“We had so many members of the Helena community come out, volunteers, people who have donated to this effort, community supporters, partners in the community, and just felt great to have that community support knowing that people really see this as a very important project. This new building for our future,” said Day.

All of their current services will be able to be housed in the new structure, which will be bigger and more roomy than their current space.

“It’s a great moment. I think it’s a good moment for this community,” Day noted.

Mock-ups of the Helena Food Share’s future residence were displayed.

This project has been in the works for a while for Helena Food Share, and Day couldn’t be more excited to grab a shovel and start digging. The organization moves a step closer to its objective as a result of the groundbreaking.

“The whole foods there, board staff, we’ve been working on this planning, looking for a place to locate all those things that have gone into it, working with architects, contracting with a general contractor, you know, and seeing that all come together today as we break ground and get ready to really start construction on this building,” said Day.

One in seven people who live in Helena, one in five children who don’t have enough to eat, and one in five elders who don’t know where their next meal will come from, according to Helena Food Share.

“You know, the people in this community were here because no one wants to see their neighbors or people in their neighborhood or kids in their schools go hungry. And they know that Helena Food Share has been an important part of making sure that those needs are served,” said Day.

Day stated that no dates have been set for construction, but that the new food sharing building is expected to be operational by the fall of 2024. The estimated cost of the project is $10,3 million.