Thank you to everyone who helped Middle Way House reach our fund raising goals for the New Wings Project. We are excited about the new year!

Middle Way House has been fund raising for months as part of its New Wings Project to renovate the old Coca-Cola Bottling Co. building at 318 S. Washington Street and build offices, an emergency shelter, day care, affordable housing for women without children, and a new kitchen for Food Works for Middle Way House.

This new licensed commercial kitchen will centralize Food Works’ current and ongoing catering business (we currently rent two kitchens!) and will also serve as an incubator for small-business owners interested in bringing locally created food items to market. This project is the result of months and years of coordination between Middle Way House, the Local Grower’s Guild, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, and numerous other local organizations and groups who have worked together to implement the Growing Healthy Communities Grant. This grant is just one component of the funds being pulled together to make the New Wings Project possible.

As a result of this coordination of efforts, the Local Grower’s Guild facilitated the creation of the Bloomington Kitchen Incubator (BKI). The Bloomington Kitchen Incubator ?????? ????? ???? is an independent non-profit that will coordinate with Food Works’ kitchen management so that this new kitchen facility provides support to local growers, entrepreneurs, and community members in preparing, packaging, and distributing locally produced foods.

It is gratifying to have the fruits of this enormous effort to be within reach. We know that we will get there and would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our wonderful community for their support. If you have driven by the old Coke Building have probably noticed that construction has been underway, and the building project should be successfully completed by next October. It is hoped that Food Works will be able to move into the kitchen sooner than that in order to transition from the two existing kitchens without an interruption in business services and also to set up equipment and training so that a strong foundation is laid for the success of the Bloomington Kitchen Incubator.

One additional note: Middle Way House (MWH) is working to make this building project as sustainable as possible. In addition to the Food Works

?????????? ????? ???? ? ????????? commercial kitchen area there will also be a small retail space for Food Works ?????? ????? ???? . The second floor will be renovated to provide six one-bedroom transitional housing apartments for former MWH clients. Topping all of that will be a roof top garden. Adjacent to the kitchen will be refrigeration storage, dry storage, and a loading and unloading area for local growers. The attached, one-story brick warehouse will be developed as a child care facility. A new three-story structure will house Middle Way’s administrative offices, crisis intervention and supportive services, and shelter. There will also be solar panels which are expected to provide enough power to heat all water used for the kitchen.

Thank you for helping us grow and build a healthy community!

Welcome to 2009!