We Are Moving to a New Home!

Lisa Bean, IFC Board President

We have big news for our members – we have a new home which is secure for the next three years!  We have one more move to conquer and then we can relax and put our efforts where they will be of most benefit to our membership.  Security feels really good.

As those of you that volunteer or pick up goods at Merle Hay Mall already know, our days there are numbered.  As a matter of fact, this next week will be our last distribution from our new-old (original) site.  We are most grateful to Merle Hay Mall for donating space to allow IFC to get started – we could not have done it with out their support.

Now, we are much bigger with great growth over the last year, and to continue this trend we needed a more permanent location.   Pete Woltz of Timber Ridge Cattle Company, Gary Huber, and I have been looking at options close to Merle Hay Mall as we know we need to stay close to where most of our consumers live, plus we want to maintain a central location for our producers.

After weeks of searching we have found the perfect place in Franklin Plaza. It is the old Marino’s Restaurant at 4944 Franklin – just east of the Franklin Public Library.  The board has looked carefully at the costs and our cash position to make sure we can afford the move. Everything looked good, so Monday we made the unanimous decision to go ahead. Yesterday (May 1) we signed the lease.

What next?   We will have distribution this next week using our space at Merle Hay Mall. We will be calling for volunteers to help us remove some carpet and linoleum tile at 4944 Franklin.

The new floor will be put down May 13-16 and Tim Kruse of Green Light Renewables will install wiring for our equipment. We will be moving EVERYTHING – so please watch for volunteer requests.  Our distribution on May 22 will take place from the new location.

The board knows that having a real home was the next step for IFC – we are excited and look forward to new adventures!