Feeding America brings Community Solution Center to northwest neighborhood.
by S. Rotan Hale
Thanks to the concerted efforts of a group of conscientious individuals, things are changing in a big way for a northwest Roanoke community.
Representatives from Feeding America Southwest Va. (FASWVA) gathered Monday, June 26 to break ground on their newest project–a Community Solution Center (CSC).
The plan has been in the works for several months and will transform the former JB’s Lounge, at 2328 Melrose Ave. to a vibrant facility offering a host of services aimed at providing food for area youth and empowering the community on various levels.
Built originally as a filling station, the property underwent extensive renovations by Doug and Alice Reaves in 1986. The husband and wife team turned it into a restaurant and a nightclub where middle-aged locals could enjoy a night out. However after several successful years Lowell sold the club to Stark Jones who changed the name to JB’s Lounge. Jones took it through several changes before ultimately closing.
After several failed attempts to rent the space to other prospective restaurateurs—the last being a troubled Ms. Chocs´ Lounge, Jones shut the building down. It sat dormant for a while until Capt. Rick Morrison led efforts to engage nearby Goodwill Industries of the Valley (GIV) and FASWV in a partnership to acquire the property. It was that series of events that led to what will soon become the Community Solution Center.
Once completed, the center will “provide area children with freshly prepared healthy meals from a fully equipped commercial grade kitchen,” said Jim Pearman Feeding America, board chair.
Pearman also announced plans to provide Roanoke City Police Department with a space at the center for learning and engaging community members with the intent to enhance community relations.
Speaking on behalf of City Council, Mayor Sherman Lea praised the collaboration and the group’s mission for bringing great changes to the neighborhood.
After an account of the troubled nightspot and the subsequent negitive consequences it brought to the neighborhood, Mayor Lea credited Capt. Morrison in spearheading the project to “transform the property into a source for good.”
“We are going to repurpose this building to bring positive changes to this area,” Lea said. “We all need to work together to support this center… and make a positive impact on this community.”
Police Chief Tim Jones further explained how Capt. Morrison brought the necessary forces to the table and approached city officials with the idea of “repurposing” the property.
“I am so blessed to be surrounded by people that think outside of the box with ‘what if’ thinking–not we can’t do this,” Jones stated boldly.
Frank Rogan, Chief Development Officer, Goodwill Industries, praised the collaborative efforts of all the partners– including community leaders–for bringing the project to fruition.
“This project has been amazing for me to watch and be a part of and all the people connected with it have done an incredible job through teamwork, good intentions and collaboration,” Rogan said. “This is the perfect model of how such elements work.”
Goodwill Industries established its local headquarters at 24th St. and Melrose Ave and has been a driving force to the upgrade of the neighborhood. Rogan also explained how his company’s training programs will also be an asset to the center’s mission.
“We will bring people in who will be trained in food preparation and they will be working in restaurants and other places around town. It will be great for those folks, great for the kids and the neighborhood–an amazing win all the way around.”
FASWVA CEO Pamela Irvine, as a major spokesperson for the project opened her comments with a personal story of immediate gratification.
The story involved organization VP John Shoulders who was filling the sand pit for the morning ceremony.
He was approached by two men who needed money and offered their help which led to them being hired on the spot–and therefore becomming the first recipients to benefit from the project.
“For 20-years I’ve had a vision for a training-production kitchen,” said Irvine who also took the opportunity to praise the partners and most importantly the investors.
“If you do the right thing no matter what the obstacles are, the resources will come,” Irvine said regarding the fact that all the projects funding had to be raised in 90 days.
Irvine said it was Capt. Morrison who came to her with news of the $250,000 CDB grant and an additional grant of the same amount made available by the City for the project. She said she reached out to Food Lion as a corporate partner and miraculously, after explaining the mission, was granted $350,000 that sealed the deal making the plan a reality.
“Sometimes change can take place by one event,” said Food Lion representative Rob Ward who spoke on the reason the company believed in their investment in the project. “This one event can suddenly be a catalyst for change in this community and give it back the strength that it needs.”
At one point, Claudia Whitworth, editor, of The Roanoke Tribune approached the podium in an effort to set the record straight regarding references to the area being a “bad neighborhood, riddled with crime.”
“I and my business have been in this neighborhood since the late 60’s and this has never been categorically a bad neighborhood,” Whitworth explained.
“For a couple of months we had one troubled nightspot. I call it a little U.N. (United Nations) neighborhood because we have Middle Eastern clothing vendors, Koreans with hair care products, a Chinese restaurant, a hardware owned by Lebanese and of course an African-American newspaper and Lowells restaurant.
“We’ve always had a sweet peaceful neighborhood,” Whitworth said in summation and welcomed the new center to the neighborhood.
Now northwest residents look forward to this new and promising venture that as Pam Irvine so apply put it, “ is what happens when people come together for a worthy cause.”
The Community Solution Center plans to open in the summer of 2018.
