Ottawa’s Community Food Basket searches for new home, after receiving grant

The years of work the Community Food Basket of Ottawa has put in helping those in need, not just around Christmas, but also year round, will be continued for some time, only from another location in 2024.

The non-profit food distribution entity will soon receive a grant of $500,000 from La Salle County through the American Rescue Plan Act, enough to fund a move to a new facility, with the goal of somewhere in central Ottawa, in the new year.

The Food Basket will have the funds to either build a new facility, buy one or rent one, according to OFB executive director Marissa Vicich, but she admits the search is geared more toward buying than building.

“We’ve been looking for an alternative for a little while now, so having this money is huge for us,” Vicich said. “We’re very thankful to the La Salle County Board for its generosity and identifying the need here. It can rest assured that we will put that money to good use into that new facility and continue to provide great service to our community.”

The Food Basket has outgrown its facility of about 8,800 square feet that it leases at 519 W. Madison St. After 24 years at that location, it was informed recently the lease would not be renewed and it would have to move by the end of April 2024, so the windfall comes at an opportune time.

Vicich believes a structure of at least 9,000 to 10,000 square feet would work nicely, but 11,000 would be even better.

“We have a little bit of time, but we can’t afford to move at a leisurely pace,” Vicich said.

“The inside of our current building is set up like a small grocery store so clients are able to shop for foods that best fit their needs and those of their family, so it can be pretty cramped in here at times. We not only need more space, but more freezers and refrigeration units, too, plus the new place would have to be able to handle those power needs. That’s another thing we’re looking for as we move on. We’d also like to have more parking.”

Vicich said the dream is to stay in the downtown area, at least in central Ottawa, rather than go to one extreme side of town or the other.

“We do have a lot of clients who walk or ride bikes to see us,” she said, “so it’s important to us that we remain accessible to them, to everybody, really.”

The number of people the Food Basket serves is growing. In October of 2023 alone, it provided food and household supplies to 1,160 families, not only a high for the year but a new record.

Vicich expects the November and December numbers to be even higher, as Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the busiest times of the year, along with the summer when children are out of school and the free- or reduced-price lunches some receive are not as readily available.

Because of that, there are no plans to make any kind of a move before the first of the year, though the search for the new digs has been going on for a while. It will take a while for the Food Basket to make some renovations to accommodate its supplies and storage equipment, so Vicich believes it will be ready for the move in the spring.

The hours are from 9 a.m. to noon on Mondays and Tuesdays and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

For more information about receiving goods, income requirements, donating and volunteering at the Food Basket, go to its website at ottawafoodbasket.org.