Land for new building donated to ML food bank

MOSES LAKE - Community Services of Moses Lake will have a new and much larger location in a few years, with the help of the donation of about six acres of land on Grape Drive. The land was donated by Moses Lake resident Chris Hanson, and was part of a charitable trust established by her father, the late C.A. (Marc) Marchand.

The property is located at the intersection of Grape Drive and SR 17 and is appraised at more than $750,000, operations manager Peny Archer said.

Chris Hanson and her husband Mick also donated the use of hauling and leveling equipment to prepare the property. Local businessman Jay Byers donated about 10,000 square yards of fill material, Chris Hanson said.

Marc Marchand was a World War II veteran, in the paratroopers, his daughter said. "He came to this area to work on Grand Coulee Dam and eventually landed in Moses Lake," Chris Hanson said. "In the early 1960s, he started a little construction company in Moses Lake. His company grew and was responsible for many projects in and around Moses Lake. For years, you could see his two-tone equipment scattered throughout the Basin."

Marchand directed that the land be placed in trust and used for a charitable purpose in 2006.

Chris Hanson is a volunteer at the food bank, and saw the food bank's current facility was full, she said. So was the warehouse that the organization uses for storage, Archer said. (The use of warehouse is donated by Jerry Bowman, she said.)

Currently Community Services of Moses Lake is a distributor for 12 other food banks in Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties, five in Benton County and 17 in Yakima County, Archer said. That's in addition to the average of 800 families served by the Moses Lake Food Bank each week, she said.

Food bank operators were looking for ways to expand, and Chris Hanson was planning to sell the property and make a donation to the food bank. "But with grant monies often being tied to community support money, often at two to three times the money donated by private entities, donating the land made more sense," she said.

Depending on fundraising efforts and grant funds, the tentative plan is to break ground on the project in 2014, with completion in 2015, Hanson said.

The plan is to build a 12,000-square-foot distribution center on the property and a 12,000-square-foot warehouse, Chris Hanson said. The two buildings already on the property would remain, Archer said.

Chris Hanson said her father would approve of this use of the property. "As a child he lived through the Great Depression," she said. "Many people who lived through that experience talk about not having enough food and becoming 'hoarders' of sorts. Marc was that way. His pantries were always overflowing with 'bargains.' I think he would be very happy and proud that the land he worked so hard on for so many years will be turned into a food bank and distribution center. His footprint can be seen all over Moses Lake, and this is one last way to give back to this community."

People who want to donate to the project, want to help at the food bank or want more information can contact Archer or Scott Kilpatrick at the food bank office, 509-765-8101.