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Date: 7/27/2022
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Civic Fund this month reached a deal to purchase the property of the former Christ Church United Methodist in an effort to keep Our Community Food Pantry in operation.
The United Methodist congregation on College Highway in Southwick closed its doors for good on June 30 after 206 years in operation. Our Community Food Pantry occupies a house on the same property, and when the church announced its impending closure, it was unknown whether the pantry would be able to stay open in that location.
The pantry will remain in place, however, and with a possibly upgraded space after a deal was reached between the Western Massachusetts Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Southwick Civic Fund, in which the local nonprofit will purchase the full property.
Civic Fund President Joseph Deedy said July 12 that maintenance of the property will begin in short order, and once the purchase is finalized he said the plan is to start moving the food pantry to one of the bigger buildings on the property.
“Once the ink is dry, we will start moving things the next day,” said Deedy.
He said the fund even has plans for the pantry beyond any of the existing structures on the property.
“I am actively pursuing grants from the state to fund the building of a new structure,” said Deedy.
Our Community Food Pantry Operations Manager Sally Munson said she was excited to see the deal go through for the food pantry to be able to remain at its current address, though she never considered closing the pantry.
“We were going to continue regardless, even if we had to do it out of a tent,” said Munson.
Betty Murphy, the president of the food pantry’s board of directors, said that now they will be having further conversations with the Civic Fund to see what changes and additions they have in mind for the property in the future.
“We are looking forward to talking to the Civic Fund and seeing what they have in mind,” said Murphy.
Joan Machacek was a member of the church and was the chair of the committee tasked with organizing the closure. She said she is upset that the church had to close, but happy to see the food pantry continue.
“I am thrilled, never dreamed anything like this would happen with such a positive outcome,” said Machacek. “You see so many vacant churches and it is hard to find uses for them.”
Our Community Food Pantry serves residents of Southwick, Granville and Tolland.