Jackson Food Program Plans New Building
Property being prepped, but money needed to move forward
Nancy Baisden (center), the managing director of the Jackson Food Program, was the speaker at a recent meeting of the Jackson Rotary Club. She is pictured with Jackson Rotary Club President Sandy Borden (left) and Jackson Rotarian and program host, Tim Jones.
The Jackson Food Program, better known by its former name, the Jackson Clothesline and Food Pantry, is making plans to build a new state-of-the art facility at property it has acquired at the southwest corner of Portsmouth and Pearl Streets in Jackson.
The program has operated for approximately 20 years in rented quarters in an older building at 276 East Main Street in downtown Jackson across from the Markay Cultural Arts Center. The door was opened to a new location when the Carlisle family of the Jackson area donated the property. An older building on that site was demolished.
However, the space available on that site proved to be a bit too small for the needed building and lot requirements, which temporarily stymied the project. The problem was solved when an adjoining lot facing Portsmouth Street was purchased which included a small building which housed Jeff’s Lock Shop for many years. Asbestos had already been removed from that structure and the current plans call for it to be demolished this spring. When this is done, the additional space necessary for the proposed new building will be available.
Now, the big issue is money rather than space. The Jackson Food Program depends mainly on donations to operate and now must somehow come up with the money to construct and equip its new building. Thus, the project will move forward only as the necessary funds become available to do so. The estimated cost of the building has been placed at approximately $150,000.
“We’re pretty much broke,” Jackson Food Program Managing Director Nancy Baisden stated in a recent talk to the Jackson Rotary Club. “Our funds are depleted and we will have to find the money,” she said, alluding to the purchase of the Portsmouth Street property and the building project.
In addition to whatever donations and contributions the building project may receive, Baisden figures the Jackson Area Ministries, which has been associated with and supports the Jackson Food Program, will attempt to direct as much donated labor as possible from church work camps and other volunteer sources.
