SCK is Moving! Help Us Prepare Our New Site and Obtain Licensing

For over a year, the Southside Community Kitchen has been searching for a new kitchen site because St. Casimir's announced it's closing. Unfortunately, Covid19 slowed down the process, but we have held many conversations and explored several of options. In late August, Rev. Neal Anderson, invited us to consider the kitchen at Unitarian Universalist of Greater Lansing, 5509 S. Pennsylvania Avenue. In early September, our cooks and I took a toured the kitchen and proposed pantry and knew it would work for us. The dining room is gorgeous and will accommodate our guests in comfort.

After this, our Health Department Inspector toured it with us as a preliminary step in obtaining our license and noted several upgrades required for licensing. They include:

1. COMPLETED! The pantry needs new ceiling panels, plumbing capped off, electrical receptacles installed, a new floor and paint and addition of food shelving units. This we need to accomplish as soon as possible at a cost of around $3,000. Thank you for meeting this need!
2. PHASE TWO: The kitchen needs a disposal sink installed (plumbing required), a convection oven installed a commercial counter top dishwasher. The biggest investment is for flooring over the current concrete floor. We've met with Elliot Restaurant Supply, Hedlund Plumbing, and Rycus Flooring and are receiving quotes and creating a plan for the upgrades. We are able to move forward because of several amazingly generous donations. We are so blessed to be able to make the changes necessary ahead of schedule.

To assist us complete our upgrades, we are also applying for an Impact Grant from the Capital Region Community Foundation that will match funds that we raise toward the upgrades dollar for dollar up to $15,000.

All of this will carry us forward and allow us to get back to feeding hungry families and individuals in our community with our new partners who are committed to serving neighbors and supporting our mission.

Even with the challenge of upgrading the kitchen, we are very excited about the location in south Lansing. Not only is it on a bus line and next to a bicycle/walking pathway, it is also close to an area where there are many homeless and people living on meager income.

Please help us get moving and back in business - TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!