Food bank to open volunteer center in former Charleston grocery store

Mountaineer Food Bank plans to open a volunteer center in a former grocery store on Charleston, West Virginia’s West Side. 

Charleston City Council on Monday approved the transfer of the old Save a Lot building at 748 Virginia Street West to the organization, based in Gassaway. 

“We are deeply excited about this opportunity to better serve the Kanawha Valley and become part of Charleston’s West Side community,” Mountaineer Food Bank CEO Chad Morrison said in a news release from the city of Charleston. 

“For 45 years, Mountaineer Food Bank has fought food insecurity in Kanawha County and now we have a chance to call part of it home. We look forward to transforming the building into a space for exceptional volunteer experiences as well as co-creating the rest of the space with community members to ensure community needs are at the heart of what we are making and no one goes to bed hungry.”

Mountaineer Food Bank plans to relocate its volunteer operations to Charleston from its current location in Poca. 

The new building would offer more space and access for volunteers to prepare and pack food, Caitlyn Johnson, a spokeswoman for the organization, said in an email to West Virginia Watch. 

“Longer term, we are exploring how the property could become a broader neighborhood resource, with future uses shaped by conversations with the community,” Johnson wrote. “The goal is not to replace or duplicate services already being provided by food pantries or other community organizations, but to identify gaps and look for ways to complement and strengthen the work already happening in the neighborhood.”

The food bank works with approximately 35–40 partner agencies in Kanawha County, including Covenant House, Step by Step,and A More Excellent Way, the city said in a news release. Opening the volunteer center would be an expansion of the foodbank’s operations, not a relocation, the city said. The foodbank serves 48 counties.

The Partnership for African American Churches had previously planned to develop the building into a community health center. The city awarded PAAC $440,000 in federal money through the American Rescue Plan to purchase the building. PAAC is no longer in a position to complete the project within federal requirements and timelines, the city said in a news release. 

Monday’s agreement allows the food bank to take over the ARPA-funded project. Mountaineer Food Bank will be required to demonstrate progress toward rehabbing the building by the end of the year, the city said. The immediate focus will be on cleaning it out and beginning necessary building improvements so the organization can use the property, the city said.  

“We have the opportunity to put this property to use in a way that can benefit the West Side and our broader community,” Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said in the news release. “Mountaineer Food Bank brings decades of experience and resources to that work. Their volunteer center gives this facility an immediate purpose, while their commitment to listening to the neighborhood and working alongside organizations already serving the West Side will help shape what comes next.”