A local food pantry in Perry has officially opened up in its new location for people to use its services. 

Perry Food Pantry Volunteer Site Manager Lou Hoger says they have officially opened up in their new location at 3112 Willis Avenue in the Eden Acres Cottages in Perry. Hoger talks about a few of the reasons they were looking for a new building including knowing they would need to leave the building due to the detection of mold in the building. 

“The former location of the Perry Area Food Pantry, while it was welcomed as one of the few sites available when we were relocating, one of the problems was that we had no water in that pantry area, no restroom facilities. We had to install our own heating and air conditioning units.”

Hoger tells Raccoon Valley Radio the new building is lighter and brighter and has more space along with having office area within the unit and plenty of storage space. Hoger says that Eden Acres will contribute $14,400 per year for rent contribution.

“(Perry Lutheran Homes CEO) Max (Phillips) offered us, his exact words were, ‘Lou what would you think of moving into two of the cottages. We could give you maybe a ten year rent free lease?’ So, right now we have a ten year rent free lease and that we would undergo the expense of converting that space.”

The hours for the Perry Food Pantry are Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and on Thursdays from 1-3:30 p.m. The new location for the food pantry is half a block east of the previous location and you can follow the signs to the parking lot.