Taking a bite out of hunger

By MINDY KEPFIELD

Staff Writer

It didn’t take long for contractors to tear down an old house at the corner of Cedar and Main Sts. — just Monday and Tuesday.

By noon, Justin Hett and a crew with his company, Hett Excavation, had smashed to rubble most of the structure, which formerly housed a beauty shop and rental.

The cleaned-up site will make way for two 25-by-50-foot buildings that will house Marion County Resource Center and Food Bank.

Getting rid of a building in poor condition also will be a blessing, food bank liaison Gene Winkler said.

“We just need to clear out that corner and make it look a lot nicer,” Winkler said.

Winkler said organizers were still thrashing out plans for the new food bank. One building will be used for storage the other for distribution.

“We have decided on a wood building, not metal,” he said. “When they are built it will look pretty nice, hopefully.”

The added space also will be a boon, he said. When the food bank started out of a room in Valley United Methodist Church, it served about 100 people a month. Now it serves about 700.

Winkler hopes construction can start in spring or summer.

Anyone wanting to donate toward the new food bank can contact Winkler at (620) 382-7111.