BCC board members fighting to keep it open

If the Bend Community Center closes on Friday as officials said it would, board members say there will be a lot of people going to bed hungry.

Many people rely on the center for food, but it’s much more than that.

It also provides on-the-job training, help with their electric bills and clothes.

And board member Chuck Hemingway says there’s going to be consequences if the center closes.

Sunday’s Feed the Hungry program may have been the last one Bend’s Community Center provides.

“It’s really a sad event,” Hemingway said. “We didn’t expect that it was going to become much of a crisis as quick as it became.”

The program started in 2005 and dishes out more than 1,200 meals per week to the homeless.

The community center opened its doors 10 years ago.

“This place is keeping people alive because there’s a lot of homeless people,” said Lollie Norton, who has attended every Sunday.

Along with a free breakfast, lunch and dinner, the center gives out hundreds of sack lunches and leftovers.

“People have brown bags — we call them brown bags, they are actually white — they need it,” Norton said. “It (lasts) ’til next Sunday. Now we don’t have any way to get any food.”

After some local grant providers started questioning whether they would provide the funding to stay open, board members decided the only option is to close down.

“My first thoughts were, I do not want to see this place fail,” said Linda Heatley, who is serving as Bend Community Center interim director. “We’ve done so many good things here.”

Heatley says keeping the center open will be like navigating white water rapids but she is up for the challenge.

“There’s so many people that will be let down, and that’s what really bothers my heart,” Heatley said.

Bend High School senior Darren Contreras has volunteered at the center for the past four years.

“I like to know that I’m helping people that need help,” Contreras said.

Contreras serves on the student council and on the honor society, and says he’s trying to set up a fund-raiser to keep the place open.

“I think this is such a wonderful place that it should stay open,” Contreras said.

So just how much money does the center need to keep the doors open?

Officials aren’t saying yet, but should be able to say later this week.

This week, board members plan to meet to see what they can do to keep it open, including touching base with as many community partners as they can.

But it may not be enough..the center is expected to close on Friday, September 14th.