“It’s an ongoing need,” said David Schwendeman, the treasurer of Northeast Churches Emergency Center. “(The pantry) serves folks that walk to us from the bus line. We service a percentage of the homeless population that we have to ask them, do you have a way of cooking? Do you have a way of keeping things cold?”
The grant funding will cover renovations for the roof, parking lot and other stabilization work for the building, which was built in the early 1900s.
“They’re envisioning a first-floor community room, as well as nonprofit organization offices upstairs,” Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said of Northeast Churches Emergency Center’s plans for the facility. “So this property will continue to support community activity and gatherings.”
The building is presently owned by the city, according to Montgomery County property records. But a conveyance of the property is underway, transferring the property to Northeast Churches Community Center.
The city declared the building a surplus property in 2011 and has been searching for a developer to take it over since then.
The grant is funded through money Dayton received from a settlement with MAHLE Behr Dayton. The neighborhood surrounding Webster Street is a Superfund site, as groundwater has been contaminated with volatile organic compounds — carbon-based chemicals that, when people are exposed to them, can cause headaches, organ damage and other health issues. Cleanup of the toxic plume is ongoing.
McCook Field Neighborhood Association President Jerry Bowling III at the commission’s recent meeting said that the Claridge Center has historic significance to the community, serving as an anchor to the surrounding park.
He said he’s happy the city’s settlement funds are “staying where they’re actually needed in an area that’s affected by a Superfund site.”
“Obviously, to me, this means a lot,” he said. “The fact that the Northeast Churches Emergency Center will have a home that we know will last — I’m sure they’re thankful for the support the city of Dayton has given them over time.”
The Northeast Churches Pantry is open on Wednesdays and has been operating out of the Webster Street building since 2014. It serves thousands of people annually.
Schwendeman said the funding ensures the pantry can continue operating and will help address issues with an old building.
“We didn’t think we were going to be around, but we’re still here and hopefully things will keep rolling,” he said.
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