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SEICAA celebrates new home |
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
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By Emily Hone
BLACKFOOT — “Thrilled” is how South Eastern Idaho Community Action Agency’s Bingham County Coordinator Bobette Jackson and her staff described their new quarters in the former St. Vincent de Paul building on West Sexton Street on Thursday.
 Morning News - Emily Hone
Greater Blackfoot Area Chamber of Commerce board members Leonard Martin from The Morning News and Bart Brown from Key Bank hold the ends of the ribbon Thursday as Bobette Jackson, coordinator of the Bingham County office of the South Eastern Idaho Community Action Agency, cuts it during the grand opening of the agency’s new offices in the former St. Vincent de Paul building on West Sexton Street.
The agency held its grand opening for the new building following a ribbon cutting ceremony by members of the board of directors of the Greater Blackfoot Area Chamber of Commerce to officially welcome them to their new site.
“We’ve been wishing for a bigger place for three years,” Jackson said of herself and her assistant Kristie Linares. “We’re thrilled to be here.”
People attending the grand opening were treated to lunch and tours of the new building that Jackson said will be a much more comfortable place for staff and clients both to do business.
It has so much room compared to their former office it seems at first glance they might just rattle around. But it’s apparent on closer inspection that none of the space is wasted.
The front room has space for staff and clients to do business and sit and visit and is already being put to use to display two beautiful quilts that will be raffled off at SEICAA’s Stone Soup fundraiser this fall.
The next room has on one side racks of clothing and shoes that will be distributed to people who need the necessities to dress up for job hunting, and the other has shelves stacked with stores from the Blackfoot Community Food Bank.
There’s plenty of room, Jackson said, to maneuver a grocery cart along the aisles and select the items needed for a balanced meal, a great improvement from the old warehouse that was dark and cold. There’s also room for the freezers that hold the frozen meat that’s donated to the program.
“It will be easy for us to make up the holiday food boxes later in the year because all we’ll have to do is go along the shelves and pick out the right ingredients,” Jackson said.
A separate room where the commodities received from the USDA can be distributed is a bonus, she said. “The two programs have different eligibility rules, and this allows us to keep the commodity food and the food bank food separate.”
Jackson said more than 100 people attended the open house. They included SEICAA Executive Director Deb Hemmert, people who volunteer at the agency, city and county officials, representatives from the churches that provide support, clients and the general public.
“We were gratified to see so many people come and wish us well in our new building,” she said.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 August 2008 )
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