Becker County Food Pantry Looking for Help to Relocate from City, County and Townships

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – The Becker County Food Pantry is exploring the possibilities of relocating and asking the city of Detroit Lakes, area townships and Becker County to help pay for the building project.

Space limitations, the age of the building and safety concerns of the current Pantry, located near the Kent Freeman Arena and owned by the city of Detroit Lakes have forced Food Pantry representatives to explore the possibility of a new space.

“The last couple of years we’ve been using a trailer to store our food in the summer time, because we don’t have room – to update or make repairs to the building is not reasonable,” said Dale Storey, President of the Board of Directors for the Becker County Food Pantry.

The city of Detroit Lakes has tentatively offered $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help with the building project; representatives of the Pantry on Tuesday, asked the Becker County Commissioners if they would be willing to use their own ARPA funds to match that donation.

Commissioners were generally supportive of the project, though they didn’t make any official motions to provide funds to the project indicating they wanted to wait until their new County Administrator was in place first.

The Pantry will now be connecting with local townships to pitch in and have reached out to private donors to help as well.