To tackle food access in Saginaw neighborhoods, City Council members are combining old-time sustenance with a new approach.
A sum of $1 million will go to boost a $5 million campaign to expand the Hunger Solution Center at 940 East Genesee, home to the East Side Soup Kitchen and the Hidden Harvest food recovery project.
The vote is a followup to $1 million for Food Club, where families with incomes up to the $50,000 range would receive shopping subsidies. Construction of the facility, also $5 million, is slated to begin this summer near the old wave pool site across from the YMCA.
Combined, the $2 million comes from Saginaw’s American Rescue Plan ARPA grant of $52 million. Leadership in the decisions came from Mayor Pro Tem Annie Boensch and Councilman George Copeland, who during the past year have taken the lead on food and nutrition.
Boensch said even with the Food Club as an alternative to the suburban megastores, some in hardship always will depend on direct aid, “even if there was a Kroger across the street.” Councilwoman Priscilla Garcia, who volunteers at the facility, noted patron counts increasing to 700 or 800 per day. Copeland added that the project is for updated equipment as well as for more space.
An expansion would require closing Thompson street between East Genesee and South Fourth. The soup kitchen started in the First Christian Church basement during the 1980s, followed by Hidden Harvest in the old Sunoco gas station on Janes and Baum, which combined at the Hunger Solutions Center. In effect, meals served at the soup kitchen come in part from restaurant and bakery leftovers.
Council members also allocated $100,000 for an array of STARS sheltered bus stops at city-based apartment complexes, including the senior high-rises (Maplewood, Rosien, Davenport, Elmwood, Pinewood). These will be part of future efforts to connect renters without vehicles to plans for shopping, including for groceries.
Earlier, the main transit proposal for long-range big plans to save the Potter Railroad Station was rejected, based on STARS already being a tax-assessing entity with its 3.2-mill property levy.
City Hall still has more than $1 million in ARPA funds in the bank, with an end-of-year deadline to decide how to spend the remaining monies that linger.
To view last week’s proceedings, click here.
