BUTTE — The Butte Rescue Mission has completed its new Center of Hope facility, expanding its capacity to address food insecurity in the Mining City after serving 111,000 meals last year.
The renovated building features a new kitchen, food storage, and a dining area that can seat over 100 people. All food distribution operations will now run out of the new building.
WATCH: See inside the Butte Rescue Mission's new Center of Hope facility
"So, this is a long project, right? It's been a long haul to get to this point. So, I don't think it's quite sunk in yet as to… that we've actually accomplished…building a building, fundraising $2.5 million, and it all came together," Executive Director Brayton Erickson said.
Shantell Flammond, a cook at the Butte Rescue Mission, spent half a decade working in smaller kitchens on the campus to help feed food-insecure community members.
"Such big space brings so much more, like, happiness and people are like visiting in it. It makes it a really nice atmosphere," Flammond said.
"It feels amazing. It's not so cramped and we have room to like have volunteers come so it makes it a lot easier," Flammond said.
Beyond food services, the Center of Hope creates a space for organizations and resources to connect with people. The building includes a medical clinic room, rooms for case management, administrative offices, and a conference room for tutoring, life skills, and literacy classes.
"All the operations as far as food distribution goes out of this building, and then on top of that it creates a space where a lot of organizations and resources can come and meet people where they are at," Erickson said.
"So there's a whole lot of activity that goes on in this building," Erickson said.
Erickson noted that providing a welcoming environment is a crucial first step in helping vulnerable populations.
"People have been through trauma, they've been in hospitals, they've been in places that aren't healthy and this is a beautiful space, you know, and that's the start. Just the basic needs, you know, if they have clean clothes, if they have a warm meal and they have a beautiful space to sit in and get out of the weather – whether it's cold or there's smoke—and that's a lot of times what changes the trajectory of where people go," Erickson said.
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