Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Feeding Manhattan: The Flint Hills Breadbasket's Next Chapter on the GMCF Community Hour Episode - 198
The Flint Hills Breadbasket is transforming food assistance in Manhattan with its upcoming move to a spacious new facility on Skyview Drive, which will open in early May. Executive Director Karla Hagemeister shares how this expansion will create a dignified shopping experience while nearly doubling its weekly service hours.
• New location will feature a grocery store-like environment with polished concrete floors and tall ceilings
• Moving from cramped quarters to a space designed for dignity, comfort, and accessibility
• Service hours expanding from 14.5 to 26 hours weekly
• Volunteer opportunities available, including preparing 15,000 bags for the upcoming letter carriers' food drive
• The current Yuma Street location will transfer to the City of Manhattan for community use
• Grow Green Match Day funds are crucial for operations, as federal program cuts impact fresh produce options
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on NewsRadio KMAN. Hey, let's get an update with what's happening at the Flint Hills Breadbasket here during the GMCF Community Hour on KMAN this morning. Carla Hagemeister is the Executive Director. What's it been? Three years, now Four.
Speaker 2:Yep just over three.
Speaker 1:Just over three.
Speaker 2:I hit that three-year anniversary in March.
Speaker 1:Too bad, you don't have anything going on over in your world.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it's dull, dull, dull, dull, dull days.
Speaker 1:Dull, dull, dull. Well, obviously you know there's so many neat things that are happening. You know, you, you got the old furniture warehouse building. Yes, is that Skyview Drive? Yes, it's on Skyview Drive and I see the pictures that you post and actually we talked about it in church yesterday and and it was, it was neat to to to get some perspective on what you're doing there. So that's still in the process, so bring us up to date.
Speaker 2:We're really um approaching. I updated a us up to date. We're really approaching. I updated a calendar the other day. We're down to about six weeks before we open in the new location. Yes, it's here before we know it. The construction started in January and they've just been moving right along. Things are knock on wood on track. We will have possession of a completed project. They've got the targeted date of completion somewhere between April 17th and 22nd, when they'll finish their punch list and we'll be able to truly start making ourselves at home there. We've allowed ourselves a few weeks to make that move kind of over time. While we continue to operate out of 905 Yuma, we want to make sure that we have time for our staff and volunteers to get familiar with the space, move around in it, do some test runs, make sure that we're ready to greet guests, and then the first week of May is when we have targeted to start operating in the new location.
Speaker 1:So what's going to be new about the new facility?
Speaker 2:A lot. If you've been in our old facility, you would see that we are a very tight-knit group of people. And we have to be a very tight-knit group of people because there's a lot of overlap of functions happening within a pretty tight physical space. Happening within a pretty tight physical space. The beauty of the new facility is that we will have a market shopping floor that looks and feels like a small grocery store Think of maybe like an Aldi size where you walk in and it has the tall ceiling, the polished concrete floor, the physical space, so that our guests can come in and just have a really normalized, dignified visit.
Speaker 2:It will be less crowded, less noisy, less overwhelming. For those of us who get our fill of people every day. You know sometimes it can be a little bit overstimulating. You know sometimes it can be a little bit overstimulating, and so we're really looking forward to having better access for everybody, but especially when you think about somebody who maybe has some mobility challenges, uses a walker or cane, somebody with a stroller, anything like that, to have just the space to move within the market while they're making their selections.
Speaker 1:I think, with the breadbasket in the current location, you walk in and maybe I don't see everything that is accessible to everything, but it has a real warehouse feel, a very industrial feel, sure, and that's going to be quite a bit different.
Speaker 2:It is Again that front facing, the guest facing area is going to look and feel like a very welcoming, warm, guest centered, customer service centered space with a check-in desk, a checkout desk, a soft seating area, not feeling like you're running the gauntlet or you're in just kind of this holding area, but comfortable seating. A screen on the wall that will have announcements about what maybe we're offering or events that are coming up, restrooms that are equipped, handicap equipped, water fountains, bottle fillers, just everything that you could think of that will make a person's visit more comfortable and dignified.
Speaker 1:Do you have bottle fillers now?
Speaker 2:No, no, really, oh no.
Speaker 1:Boy. That would be a nice addition, wouldn't it? We don't have a water fountain.
Speaker 2:Right now we have one restroom, we have one office, we have a market that about three people can shop in at a time. People can shop in at a time, and so just the efficiency, the capacity for how we will be able to serve guests will be just night and day difference for our guests, but also, I think, for our volunteers, our staff, our community in general. I think we'll really enjoy having spaces that are specifically set aside for them to do the piece that they're doing. We like each other. We're a tight group.
Speaker 2:We have a lot of fun. There's a lot of interaction and community building between our guests and our staff and our volunteers, and we want to hold on to that. We enjoy that. That's probably one of the best things about it is that people aren't just getting their need for food met, but a lot of times it's also a need for community, it's a need for interaction. So we want to hold on to that piece, but we also want our volunteers to feel like they have space to do what they're there to do and our staff to have space to do what their tasks are. So getting those physical components of it to match up with our values exciting.
Speaker 1:You know you made use of the mention volunteer and of course, Lori Bishop was in here. We talked about volunteers and the work that you do together to coordinate a lot of folks that come and help out. So what volunteer opportunities do you have coming up Other than what we've already talked about and helping move boxes and boxes, and boxes and all kinds of other things over to the new location?
Speaker 2:Sure, we will have some volunteer opportunities, probably for the move, but just on an ongoing basis. We have volunteers that drive out to our food recovery routes every day, pick up donations from the grocery stores and bring that back to us. We have sorters. We have volunteers that work out front we call it like front of house, like you would in a restaurant that are doing more forward-facing volunteer opportunities with our guests.
Speaker 2:In the new location we will be altering our hours somewhat. We're kind of holding off on announcing what the specific hours will be until we get all of our stakeholders really notified of it and make sure that they're aware of it. First. We want to make sure we respect them. But at the end of the day, right now we are open for guest services about 14 and a half hours per week and with the change in capacity and change of what we'll be able to do, we will actually bump that up to 26 hours per week. So we hope and should be able to do that with pretty much the base of volunteers that we currently have. But we also know that there's going to be some places where we need to fill in some gaps. So we're excited to have some opportunities to welcome some new volunteers. We will also, in this new location, have better capacity to host larger groups to volunteer with us. And then, very specifically, in the short term, we are preparing for the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers drive.
Speaker 1:That's always a big deal and that's what the? Second Saturday of May.
Speaker 2:Second Saturday in May.
Speaker 2:This Thursday we will be getting 15,000 bags to go, with the 15,000 cards that we need, stapled to said bags.
Speaker 2:That will then be folded and distributed by our letter carriers into people's mailboxes so that they can then fill the bags and have them picked up. So we are needing volunteers to help us get those bags stapled, folded, ready to go. 15,000, that's a big number, but it's also a fun activity to do with a group or a small group or a group of friends, just whatever that could be. And that could be a group coming and spending a couple hours with their favorite staplers at the breadbasket, or that could be something where a small group whether it's a fraternity, sorority club wants to use their meeting time and they can just get the supplies from us, take it back to fraternity sorority club wants to use their meeting time and they can just get the supplies from us, take it back to wherever it is that that group is getting together and maybe order some pizza or some ice cream and sit and talk and do some stapling and folding and make a big impact for us.
Speaker 1:Never thought of stapling as being a fun activity.
Speaker 2:I think it could be. It could be, it depends on who you are.
Speaker 1:You know, of course I have this vague reference to the office, and so stapling is a whole different creature when it comes to the Flint Hills Breadbasket for this effort.
Speaker 2:It is. I'm excited for this just because, again, we get a lot of requests Groups want to do things together, the offices want to volunteer no-transcript To meet the need of a company that has 20 employees to do something that's truly impactful for the organization, and so this was kind of fun. I was like this is one that really kills or kills two birds with one stone or checks a lot of boxes, in the sense that it is something that we really do need to have done, but it has a lot of flexibility and opportunities for volunteers to do it in a way that works for them.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the transition. What's going to happen with the current location on Yuma?
Speaker 2:The current location on Yuma will go to the city of Manhattan. We've had a very long history and a cooperative relationship with the city. The building that we're currently occupying was built by our community, meaning donors supported the breadbasket to build that building. But the land that we're sitting on is owned by the city of Manhattan, and so it's always been within our lease or our contract with the city that, should we vacate the building, that that building and anything that's not nailed down that we leave behind would go to the city of Manhattan, and so the Parks and Rec Department is making some plans for that that I'll let them share when they're ready to do it, but they are working on some things that I think the community will appreciate and will be a good use of the building going forward.
Speaker 1:There's a lot. There's a new synergy down in that area.
Speaker 2:There is.
Speaker 1:You know the work that they've done there at the Douglas Center, those statues you know I drive by those and look at those, just like you know, and it's just neat to see some of the things that are going on. So I'm sure they've got some great ideas.
Speaker 2:It's a little bit bittersweet for us to leave that space, because there is history there. That's where we started and it has been a great location for us. But when we really looked down to it, how do we want to serve guests going into the future? What are our needs? How do we make sure that we're being responsive to those needs? The move for us has really been just couldn't have been timed better, couldn't have worked out better for us, and we're excited for what that opportunity for us is going forward.
Speaker 1:Three weeks we have Grow Green Match Day. What's it mean for the breadbasket?
Speaker 2:Grow Green Day is a great day for the breadbasket. Many nonprofits in the community really rely on these small dollar donations that come in. They build up to something that's really important and so those days that we have to take that energy that comes in with Grow Green Day really can build it up. The reality is is that Grow Green funds are an important part of our just general operating expenses. A lot of grants are determined by specific projects or have a lot of parameters around them. Grow Green Day is a great day for us to just get support that helps us do our work every day, to just do what we're doing.
Speaker 2:We, like many organizations right now, are kind of wading through the changes that are happening.
Speaker 2:There have been programs that were supported through the federal government that have been terminated or contracts have been ended that will impact us. We were grateful recipients of food from the LFPA program the last two summers, which brought Kansas-grown produce into food programs, so it was really an amazing source of healthy, fresh Kansas-grown food for our guests. That made a large impact and that program has been cut. So when I look at the needs of our guests and the desires of our guests to have healthy foods, they want and desire the produce that we're all looking for and that, honestly, at the grocery store those prices are going up. So I'm looking for ways to make sure that, as we move into a new location, that we have food on the shelves. And that's not to say that I'm panicking, but I have to be mindful of that. I have to make sure that, as we grow, that we are sustainable, that we are being good stewards of the funds that we receive, but that we're holding true to making sure that we provide our guests with healthy food choices.
Speaker 1:Lots of great things happening in the future, the very near future, but also some challenges associated with the activities and the work that's being done at the Flint Hills Breadbasket. Good luck on the new move and we'll talk again very soon, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I look forward to it.
Speaker 1:Carla Hagenmeister. Thanks for bringing Olivia from Overland Park to set in on the show today. She's waving at all of our listeners. Today it's the GMCF Community Hour. Vern's back in a couple of.