The Milan Christian Food Pantry will soon have a new home. Kenneth Collinson, a local attorney, has donated his former office building in downtown Milan to the pantry, which is run by five local churches.
Pantry Coordinator Jody Kerres says it's extremely crowded in its current rented space on West 4th Street downtown.
"We use every square inch. I do all the ordering, so we bring all the food in and we are stacked to the ceiling. Usually 10 to 12 people work at a time when the pantry is open. And we'd like to carry more items that our clients need and we just don't have the room to be able to do it."
The new pantry will be twice as big, and Kerres calls it a transformative gift. But, the building still needs some renovations before the food pantry can relocate. And to help with that, the Brissman Foundation has donated $90,000.
"The whole building needs to be redone. So we are gutting and tearing out walls and tearing out flooring. We need to put in a ramp, a huge ramp that will be around 40 feet long. And, we need to put in a parking lot."
Nearly 900 people visit the Milan Christian Food Pantry each month.