Community Servings completes capital campaign

Community Servings, which delivers meals to people who are homebound due to HIV/AIDS or other life-threatening illnesses, exceeded the $4 million fundraising goal for its capital campaign, but it came down to the wire. David Waters, executive director of Community Servings, said the Kresge Foundation offered a $400,000 matching grant if Community Servings could raise the rest of the money for the campaign by Oct. 31. By August the organization still had to raise $500,000 to qualify for the grant.

"The community in September and October really stepped up. It was a really grassroots kind of thing with people giving at all levels," said Waters. Community Servings raised enough money to receive the Kresge grant by the end of last month, and Waters said the current tally shows that the campaign exceeded its fundraising goal by $50,000.

Community Servings launched its campaign two years ago to finance the purchase and construction of its new headquarters in Jamaica Plain. Waters said the new building is two-and-a-half times the size of its former headquarters in Roxbury, and the organization was desperate for more space. When Community Servings originally moved into its Roxbury headquarters 10 years ago the organization was serving about 300 meals a day, but the capacity has expanded to 1300 meals a day. The organization was so strapped for space that staff shared desk space and the organization stored food in rented trailers in the parking lot.

The new building is a converted grocery warehouse. Waters said that over six months the organization essentially rebuilt the building around the existing steel structure, converting it into a green building. Community Servings moved into the new building in July.

By reaching the $4 million goal, Community Servings was able to pay for the new building without taking out a mortgage.

"Most importantly it means we own this new facility with no mortgage, so it means all future fundraising goes to feed people and not financing costs and other boring things like that," said Waters.

He said more than 1000 people donated to the campaign with donations ranging from $500,000 to $1.97.

Beyond the increase in space for preparing and distributing meals Waters said the new building will also allow Community Servings to provide nutritional classes and offer a food service job training program. The organization also hopes to expand its services into new areas; in May Community Servings began offering meals to clients in Lawrence, the 16th city that it serves, and Waters said he hopes to expand into even more communities.

Another perk of the new building is that it is located right near the Stonybrook station on the Orange Line, and Waters said he hopes that makes it easier for people to volunteer to help prepare meals for the organization.

Waters said the capital campaign was the largest in Community Servings's history. About 10 years ago the organization conducted a $1.3 million campaign to move into its Roxbury headquarters.

"It was a big leap of faith to think we could go from $1.3 to $4 million, so it was a great sense of satisfaction when we achieved it," said Waters.