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Managing Editor CHICOPEE Mayor Michael Bissonnette told Bellamy Middle School students last week the city and the board of Lorraine's Soup Kitchen are considering several possible sites for the relocation of the food pantry and meal program and should make a decision soon. "We, by the end of this month, will come to some resolution," Bissonnette told students in the Bellamy REACH Community Problem Solving program. This year, the students are addressing the hunger problem in the city. In an hour-long session, students asked the mayor questions about the issue of the food service's relocation and Bissonnette asked them questions about their opinions on a new site. The owner of the Center Street building where the Soup Kitchen has been located has asked the operation to move. Bissonnette would not be specific with the students -- and the group of reporters covering the story about the three locations under consideration. He said that one was in the downtown area, while another was in Willamansett and a third "in between." He did say the former library would not be a location and that no property along Memorial Drive was to be considered. He did say one of the locations is a daycare center that has a kitchen and enough space for the meal program and food pantry. The new location has to be within the urban center of the city and along a bus route, he told the eighth graders. If there was an appropriate piece of city property for the food panty, Bissonnette said the city would use it "in a heartbeat." He said that the city has been working on a new housing complex for veterans and he has been considering incorporating space for the food service there. The project, if it becomes reality, would be under-written by federal dollars. He is also researching whether or not there are federal funds or grants available that would finance a meal program for non-senior adults through the city's schools. The mayor told the students that he sees the services offered by the Soup Kitchen as being more than just hunger-related. He said that many times people who need the Soup Kitchen need other educational and social services. Once a site is secured, Bissonnette said there would be a fundraising campaign aimed at area civic organizations and businesses. He called on the students to become involved with the process by volunteering at the Soup Kitchen, writing to legislators to appeal for state assistance and to be prepared to help with the renovations at the new site. Bissonnette said he wants to do more than just find the Soup Kitchen a new home, but to work with businesses and others to provide long-range support and develop a plan for the future. He sees a new Soup Kitchen as a "memorial for Lorraine Houle," whose hard work has sustained the program for many years. After the class, its teacher, Dr. Irene Czerwiec, said the students have already sponsored a food drive for the Soup Kitchen and collected sweaters for people using the food pantry. She said the next project would probably be a television production to be broadcast over the city's community access channel. The students participating in this year's program are Michelle Deslauriers, Danielle Dobosz, Sabrina Gray, Aaron Kimball, Jenna Lescell, Lisa Mindell, Kristin Mrozinski, Kristina Mullin, Haleigh Scott, Tatyana Sereda, Maggie Tzivanis and Marie Valliere. | ||||||
