Even when times were fairly good, the soup kitchen at the Damiano Center in downtown Duluth was dishing up some 7,000 meals a month, many to families that otherwise would have gone hungry.
Then the recession hit and the number of meals per month jumped to about 10,000. Then last year it went to 11,000, and all of a sudden what seemed an outdated, poorly organized, crowded kitchen in need of more storage and prep space was a tiny, aging, difficult-to-use kitchen and dining area. Also, repairing and paying the energy bills for the facility's aging appliances quickly was becoming unacceptably costly.
So Damiano made plans, $2 million of plans, all of them long overdue, to remodel the soup kitchen; to expand the dining room so it can seat about 200 at a time instead of the 112 who now crowd inside, sometimes waiting for a seat; to fix a part of its roof that's leaking; to add a sprinkler system; and to make other needed repairs to its 109-year-old building.
The majestic but tired brick structure once was Duluth's Catholic grade school, a part of the Sacred Heart campus that also included the diocesan cathedral.
The folks running the Damiano Center already have raised $663,000 for the repairs and improvements. That total includes $313,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants, $150,000 from an anonymous donor, and $100,000 each from Maurice's and Minnesota Power.
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A capital campaign to raise the rest, about $1.3 million, launches today.
Duluthians can be generous. The Damiano Center is a critical part of Duluth's safety net. Our city would be a far worse-off place without it and its soup kitchen, kids' café, clothing exchange (in 2011, it distributed 432,225 articles of clothing and household goods), outlet for work and interview clothes, and community services for people in need.
The facility is the one in need now. Our community owes it to itself to step up.
"We make a huge difference. People have a place to come," Damiano Executive Director Dave Benson said while offering a tour of the facility to News Tribune editorial board members. "The building is just great for what we do, and we make our budgets. But we have big needs that we just can't handle. If this is successful, we should be set for the next 30 years."
That's three decades of worry-free help for people in our community who need it most. Even when times are good.
"Poverty isn't going away, but neither are we," the Damiano asks on a capital campaign brochure. "Will you help us meet the challenge?"
Say yes. Donate at damianocenter.org .
