Food banks typically address hunger. The West Seattle Food Bank acknowledged that food wasn’t the only need that the poor had. They also needed permanent housing, medical care, and work. The West Seattle Community Resource Center project aims at targeting those needs as well. The center is a new, 67,000-square-foot building that updates and expands the food bank, houses, office and program space, for six other social service providers and creates 34 affordable homes for low-income families. Five of the center’s homes are reserved for developmentally disabled households, and seven for formerly homeless families. The project aims at treating the whole individual, not just their hunger. It also demonstrates how environmental responsibility is possible for anyone.
The West Seattle Community Resource Center is located in the western part of Washington with views of the famed Olympic Mountains. The center will serve as a gateway to a variety of other services that families need. Visiting families and residents will be able to obtain food, medical care, child care, job training/assistance and supportive services all in one location. Easy access to these services will reduce the overall need for food assistance in the long term. This will help the city to become stronger as its citizens, especially its impoverished ones, become stronger as well.
The center will be built on a former brownfield site that has been cleansed of the petroleum contamination created by a gas station. This reduces the need to clear new land, already a green act. Additionally, the center incorporates green features, including:
• Drought-tolerant landscaping requiring little or no irrigation
• Low-flow fixtures and toilets, and front-loading washers
• Low-VOC paints and sealants, and high-efficiency glazing
• Fluorescent fixtures, a heat recovery system, daylighting and daylight/occupancy sensors
• Recycled and reclaimed building materials, as well as recycling of construction waste
The developer, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) follows an environmentally sustainable approach to property development as well as inventiveness and social conscience. The company has its values in “seeking to minimize adverse environmental impacts from projects; use environmentally sound products and processes, retain and add green space, and build a “walkable” community that also fosters use of mass transit and non-motorized transportation.” The West Seattle Community Resource Center is serving the needs of the poorest people in a way that is eco-friendly, and a reminder to all of us of what is possible. |
