Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Emergency Ministries is moving to downtown Long Street.
The new site is located at 1040 Long St. in the same building as the laundry, across the alley from Oregon Prospecting and Rita’s Relics and Periwinkle Provisions. The new building is owned by Bruce and Jennifer Davis of Sweet Home.
SHEM went to work moving things a little at a time last week and plans one big moving day by the end of June to move all the “big stuff,” Director Bob Hartsock said.
“The first day we’ll be open for business at this site will be July 5,” Hartsock said. The site will open again, for good, the following Saturday, July 8.
SHEM will remain open at its current site, at the intersection of Highway 20 and Gooch Lane, where it has been since the late 1990s, until June 28.
SHEM must move because the owner of its current building is planning to open a new business there, Hartsock said.
“In terms of overall spaciousness, it’s probably about the same,” Hartsock said of the new facility, but much of that space is upstairs. As far as the processing area, SHEM will have probably 500 square feet less.
The organization will change the way it processes the food, Hartsock said. Instead of spreading product out on pallets across the floor, food items will be placed on shelves.
The move is advantageous for clients, Hartsock said. “We feel like being here we’re close to our clients. The poverty community is closer to here.”
“A lot of them have to wait for rides” to reach SHEM, volunteer Maureen Toole said.
Hartsock noted that one issue may be parking. Customers will share spaces with the local retailers, but volunteers and staff will use on-street parking and public parking, he said.
The new location was the result of a citywide search.
“The board wanted me to find a location as soon as possible,” Hartsock said, adding that directors preferred a downtown location as opposed to something farther out.
Some of the places that looked like obvious solutions didn’t work out, Hartsock said, but SHEM secured a five-year deal for this location.
“I think we can fit here,” Hartsock said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t need a shoe horn. We’ve been spoiled with an area twice the size we needed it to be.”
Before the building is ready, some electrical work must be completed along with a ramp into one of the rooms.
Down the road, Hartsock’s hope is that SHEM can put up a building of its own and begin looking at one of the board’s dreams: A place where several local nonprofit organizations could have space and build equity.
The building could be designed specifically to meet people’s needs, Hartsock said.
SHEM was started by the Sweet Home Ministerial Association. It provides food boxes, up to four days worth of food, to families that qualify based on low income. The organization is primarily funded by local churches along with contributions from United Way and the Salvation Army.
For information about the program, call Hartsock at 367-6504 at SHEM or 367-0280 at home.