Pack Shack breaks ground for new building in Cave Springs

Guests attend a groundbreaking Monday for a 7,000-square-foot facility for The Pack Shack at 1091 E. Lowell Ave. in Cave Springs. The Pack Shack is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization.
Guests attend a groundbreaking Monday for a 7,000-square-foot facility for The Pack Shack at 1091 E. Lowell Ave. in Cave Springs. The Pack Shack is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization.

CAVE SPRINGS -- The Pack Shack plans to continue its effort to fight hunger in a new, larger building to better accommodate its operations.

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Courtesy Photo/HFA CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

This artist’s rendering shows what the Pack Shack’s new 7,000-square-foot facility in Cave Springs will look like

Officials broke ground at the site where the building will be at 1091 E. Lowell Ave. early Monday morning.

The Pack Shack

The Pack Shack opened in Rogers in 2013. Its Feeding the Funnel parties take place around the country. The nonprofit organization has distributed more than 8.4 million meals, which were assembled at those parties. For a full list of food relief organizations who receive the meals, visit www.thepackshack.org.

Source: Staff report

The 7,000-square-foot building will have 4,000 square feet of warehouse space and 1,500 square feet for a Feed the Funnel party hosting room. Office space and a kitchen will be included in the remaining space, according to Bret Raymond, Pack Shack chief executive officer.

The nonprofit group that hosts Feed the Funnel parties to help battle food insecurity now operates out of a 2,400-square-foot space in downtown Rogers at 503 N. Arkansas St.

"We were delighted when we moved into it," Raymond said. "It seemed ginormous."

The new building should be ready for move in by January, he said.

The Feed the Funnel parties are where community groups come in and create packaged meals with five dry ingredients, which are distributed to Northwest Arkansas hunger relief organizations. The assembly lines work in a festive atmosphere with music and dancing, officials said.

Businesses can participate in a party as a team building exercise. Churches, sport teams, schools and other community groups hold parties. Ages 3 and older can participate.

Arkansas ranks No. 2 in regard to overall food insecurity with 19.9 percent of its population having limited or uncertain availability to nutritious and safe food, according to Feeding America, a national hunger-relief nonprofit. Mississippi ranks the worst at 22 percent. The national average is 14.3 percent.

"Even in Northwest Arkansas, you don't have to go far at all to find people who are struggling with hunger," Raymond said. "There are huge needs in the state, and our hope and desire is that we're able to provide some provisions to our neighbors in need."

Within the first year at the Rogers location, Raymond said he knew the operations would outgrow the space so the hunt for either available warehouse space or land to build began.

"We wanted to be centrally located in Northwest Arkansas, and we wanted a warehouse that was configured to our needs," he said.

Land was available for an affordable price along a main transportation corridor, Arkansas 264, he said.

The project has been one of community collaboration. Harrison French & Associates in Bentonville will provide free engineering and architect services and Tyson Foods helped develop the meals, Raymond said.

Ben Butler, owner and developer, is working with Joe Ruddell of Generations Bank to work out money details. Butler will lease the building to the Pack Shack, Ruddell said. Butler said he believes in the organization's mission.

"For the Pack Shack, this is a game changer. Long-term stability for an organization like this means a lot," he said, adding nonprofit groups often aren't in the position where they can buy or build, but this project will give the Pack Shack a home for the next 20 years.

The building will have a porch that mimics the Pack Shack logo with double columns and a skewed roof, she said. Loading access will be easier with a dock at the back of the building and an overhead, roll door on the front of the building.

Cave Springs Mayor Travis Lee welcomed the project and said he believes it could spark development along the highway on the east side of the town.

It's also in a prime location with Interstate 49 being about a three-minute drive to the east and U.S. 412 about a six-minute drive to the south, he said.

NW News on 08/02/2016

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