Thinking big to better the community

[synth music with chorus]

Sara:

Imperial Valley is located within the Sonoran Desert. Summer temperatures are anywhere from 105 to 115 and it doesn’t get cool at night. There’s only so early you can come to work in the morning in order to avoid the afternoon heat. That made life in our old food bank very difficult. We had no ventilation; our warehouse workers had the unairconditioned part of the warehouse. And there’s nothing but gravel in between them and we’re running forklifts back and forth between these two buildings. We didn’t have a loading dock and the staff that was doing programs stayed in this little, tiny space where we were literally on top of each other.

[laughter]

So, you can do pretty much everything in one room. It was too small; there just wasn’t enough space.

[inspirational music]

The cost of the building itself was getting us to that 6/6.5/7-million-dollar figure. So we started our fundraising, we got to the point where we were 50 percent and we went public with it, and we were discussing phasing the building to build essential warehouse office space and then adding on the things that weren’t essential but necessary. Cause we weren’t gonna build this building for 10 years; this is a 50-yar project. We want this building to be here no matter what happens with hunger in the valley, and we need to really look at how we were gonna raise all that money. So, through some contacts, I learned about New Market Tax Credits. I talked with a consultant, and they introduced us to JPMorgan Chase, who became the funder on the project.

[mysterious music]

There were so many people that doubted that we could do this. $7 million dollars in Imperial County is unheard of. So we’re so grateful to the people who did believe in us, our board, and myself that we were actually able to achieve this. And most of my staff come from low-income backgrounds. Very few of them have ever lived or worked in a new building, and it was a paradigm shift.

Cecilia:

When they finished the building, I was really excited. I even cry that day and I say thank you to Sara for making this happen.

[inspirational music swells]

Sara:

I’m very proud of this building, but I’m really proud of my staff and having them being proud to be in the building. Just…it just warmed my heart.

END