Keystone Community Services

Keystone Community Services plans to open a new Community Food Site in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood in 2023. This new site will increase Keystone’s capacity to provide food to our neighbors. We invite you to review the information below about the new site.

Keystone purchased a 20,000 square foot building on University Avenue near Fairview Avenue. We are in the beginning stages of planning for this new community food site that will bring all of our basic needs programming into one location, including Foodmobile and crisis services.

Why a new facility?

This new site will provide us with the opportunity to significantly expand our food and crisis services for people living in our service area. This project is part of our 2020-2024 strategic plan and we have accelerated our timeline to complete this project due to the pandemic and increased need in the community.

The site will have many features that will help Keystone increase efficiency and serve more people, including:

• A much larger shopping area for participants to select foods that meet their household’s needs
• Increased capacity to receive and warehouse food
• Large volunteer spaces to tap the enthusiasm of corporate and community groups
• Spaces for staff to meet residents privately to discuss crisis assistance and make connections to other resources

Why is Keystone creating a new community food site?

Put simply, we need more space to provide more services to a larger number of people in need. The new 20,000-square-foot site will support an increasing number of people turning to us for food and crisis support.

More people are turning to Keystone for food support. Groceries, gasoline, and other essentials are becoming more expensive and for many of our neighbors affording basic grocery items stretches their budgets beyond their limits. We are anticipating the need in the community will continue to increase in 2022 and 2023 as the economic impact of the pandemic is disproportionately impacting low-income people and it will take them longer to recover lost wages and overall household income. Our new site will give us the space to meet increased needs.

By the end of 2023, we expect to be supporting over 50,000 people with food and crisis supports.

What will happen to Keystone’s other locations?

• The administrative headquarters and senior programming will remain at the Merriam Park Community Center on St. Anthony Avenue.
• We will continue to operate our senior and youth programs at the West 7^th Community Center; we will continue youth programs at our Keystone Best Buy Teen Tech Center and at the McDonough Community Center.
• Express Bike Shop remains open. We refreshed the interior and exterior of the bike shop in 2020 — stop by to buy or donate a bike!

What is the timeline for this project?

Our goal is to be operating out of this new site in 2023 contingent on Keystone securing funding from our community for building renovations and operating costs.

Are you accepting donations for this project? How much does it cost?

Thank you for your interest! Yes, we are accepting donations to support the project. If you are interested in supporting our new community food site, please contact Jen Winterfeldt at jwinterfeldt@keystoneservices.org or 651-603-6650. We would be happy to provide more information about the cost of the project and the ways you can participate. Keystone gratefully accepts cash gifts, stock transfers, qualified charitable contributions from your IRA, and donor-advised fund contributions.

I live near the new building in the Midway neighborhood and I want to know more about this project.  How can I get more info?

We are committed to keeping community members informed about the project and aim to have little to no disruption in the neighborhood. We are hosting a number of community convenings to discuss the project so if you would like more information please contact us at info@keystoneservices.org or 651-645-0349 to learn more.

When Keystone moves to the new site, will there be a period when services stop?

No! There will be no interruption to any of Keystone’s services. Participants will be notified well in advance about the date in which they should access services at the new site.