New building for Naples Food Cupboard

NAPLES — The Naples Food Cupboard has a new location.

A brand new building, that is dedicated to the food bank operations, was delivered to the prepared site on Thursday, Dec. 5.

The new building is located where the former historic, late 1920s-era Naples Community Church stood.

The land is owned by both the school district and the fire district. The temporary building is portable, though it is set up on a little bit of each entity’s property.

For some time, the food bank had operated their services from the church, until they no longer were able to do so on account of the building’s dilapidated shape and eventual dismantling and removal.

“For a couple of years we tried to get something done with the church,” said Tony Rohrwasser, chief of South Boundary Fire Department. “The condition just kept getting worse and worse.”

Young Living Oils, a Utah-based essential oil products company with a property located in the Highland Flats area, has helped with the project in many ways.

“Young Living came with three dump trucks and an excavator to help take down the old church, and hauled it off,” said Rohrwasser, who said that other community members helped support the endeavor as well.

“Clint Kimball came down and leveled everything all out and put all the gravel down, and Larry McNutt came, and put all the stuff in for the slab and donated his time,” said Rohrwasser.

The South Boundary Firefighters Association has secured funding to purchase the building and many of the upgrades as far as finishing the building and property. SBFFA is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Since the removal of the church earlier this year, the food bank has delivered services from the new ambulance bay of the fire department.

The move out of the fire station frees up much needed space for a dedicated ambulance bay for the community that is expected to be put into operation soon.

“The new building is from Premier Portable Buildings, next to Yoder’s Market, and is 14-foot by 24-foot,” said Rohrwasser. “It looks like a little house.”

Future plans for the area of land in between the food bank building and the fire department are to become the Naples Community Park.

There is also a plan to put another slab of concrete adjacent to the fire department. The area will be dedicated to fire apparatus and training needs. Instead of fire personnel and equipment training having to be on dirt and mud, the activities will take place on solid ground.

“The firefighters association, is a non-profit, separate from the district, that allows fundraising and for members to complete projects for the community,” said Rohrwasser. “Yearly fundraising profits from Xmas tree sales get split in half, where part goes to the food bank and the other part goes to the South Boundary Firefighters Association.” Trees this year have been donated by Young Living.

South Boundary Firefighters Association has been in operation for around 10 years.

“We try to do a few things every year,” said Rohrwasser. “This year, we had a raffle and raised money for the community where people could apply for a $500 scholarship.”

A big chunk of the money for the Premier Portable Building purchase came from the Michael McClaskey estate. McClaskey, passed away on Fathers Day, June 16, and left his estate to be represented by Leatha Lockhart.

“Around $8,000 was donated by the estate of Michael McClaskey,” said Rohrwasser. “The money was used for the food bank building costs.”

Naples Food Cupboard has been in operation for eight years. They are open on Thursdays from 2-3:30 p.m. and rotate the items with breads and desserts available on one week, and all other foods, the next week.

The Naples Community Cupboard is located at 111 Stagecoach Road in Naples. For more information please contact Linda Cromwell, 925-381-8314.