PHOTO BY MEGHAN ERKKINEN

More than 100 people turned out for the opening celebration of the Mountain View Community Center Nov. 1.

Community center opens

By Meghan Erkkinen

More than 100 people turned out for the opening celebration of the Mountain View Community Center in Edgewood Nov. 1. The event attracted community members, public officials, members of Mountain View Lutheran Church and others, and featured a variety of speakers.

The community center includes a large open area, a kitchen and offices on the upper floor to be used for church and community events. On the lower floor is the expanded Edgewood Community Food Bank. The project cost more than $900,000 and was funded by church members and grants from charitable foundations.

“This is evidence of a lot of hard work and is the culmination of a lot of effort by a lot of people,” said Edgewood City Manager Kim Wilde. “This food bank will be a wonderful addition to the community, as will the other facilities (in the building).”

Mountain View Lutheran Church began operation of the Edgewood Community Food Bank in April 2003. By 2006, the food bank was feeding an average of 65 families or 275 individuals a week, and was outgrowing its old 1,500-square-foot location.

The church congregation voted in September 2006 to raze the existing building to make way for the new community center.

The church members broke ground almost a year ago on the 10,000-square-foot building, which includes the 4,000-square-foot food bank, the 5,000-square-foot community center and 1,000 square feet for storage. The new food bank will be able to serve nearly 1,000 clients per month.

Don Mott, a board member for the community center project and a Mountain View member for 25 years, said the church sought a facility that had the maximum potential to serve their neighbors.

“The congregation’s heart was in this facility,” he said. “The challenge for us is to fill this facility with programs, and we’re excited about that.”

Mountain View Pastor John Vaswig praised the partnerships that have developed with the church’s neighbors.

“This is a center and food bank for the entire community,” he said. “Open hands – that’s what this whole project is about.”

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