Fall River is taking back the former Davol School. Now a food pantry needs a new home.
FALL RIVER— The city exercising its contractual right to take back the Davol Elementary School may have an unintended consequence with the non-profit, Gates of Hope, losing the headquarters where they have served the Flint neighborhood and surrounding communities for the past 8 years.
Faith Bon Jovi, president of Gates of Hope Inc., said the faith-based organization was shocked when they were notified on June 2 that the city would be taking back the Davol School, having no idea that the agreement with the city had a reverter clause.
She said they understand the city’s rights and the contract involved, but the group is worried about the people they serve.
The neighborhood association has provided the space for free to Gates of Hope since it was founded. They store food and equipment, where they organize and sort the items before distribution at their outdoor food pantry, to housing complexes and at different organizations outside the city.
Bon Jovi said they give out food to between 300 and 400 people a month and exist on donations and fundraisers.
Unknown future for the non-profit Gates of Hope
Standing outside the Davol School entrance where people come by appointment to pick up food, a group of Gates of Hope volunteers voiced their concern on where they will go next and what is in store for the non-profit organization.
“It’s been eight years that we’ve been operating out of here,” said Bon Jovi. “The community has come to rely on services we provide, and we don’t want to close any of our services down.”
Gates of Hope seeks donated space for food pantry
On top of the unknown for finding a new space, Bon Jovi said the volunteers don’t know what the city’s deadline will be to move them out and worries one day they show up to the school with a padlock on the door.
The volunteers are hoping someone in the community can step up to the plate with a donation of space that they can operate out of or an offer of inexpensive rent.
Bon Jovi said she knows “it’s a big ask” to find another big space, but to run Gates of Hope, they will need a minimum 3,000 square feet. It would be ideal, she said, if a space was able to accommodate the public indoors, which they aren’t allowed to do now.
Mayor intends to move ahead with taking back Davol School
The Flint Neighborhood Association, which purchased the building over nine years ago in 2014 for $5,121, had an agreement with the city renovation work to create a community center that would be completed within five years.
Former school for sale Fall River's Silvia School building back on the market
On June 2, Mayor Paul Coogan and members of the administration met with Flint Neighborhood Association’s president Carlos Cesar and vice president Joseph Carvalho to discuss the decision to utilize a reverter clause in the purchase and sales agreement of the former school at 112 Flint Street.
“We are preparing the documents to take it back,” said Coogan on Friday.
Affordable housing in Fall River
Coogan has said that he intends to find a developer that can transform the old school into housing with an affordable component.
He was made aware through Cesar that there was an organization that would be impacted by the take back and offered to assist with finding a new them a new space.
Coogan has said that he is considering taking back another property, the Silvia School, owned by convicted businessman David Hebert and codefendant of former mayor Jasiel Correia II, who is serving a six-year sentence for corruption and fraud.
Hebert bought two schools in 2016, the Silvia and Lincoln schools for $5,000 and $10,000, respectively.
The administration brokered a sale between Hebert and Somerset developer Kenneth Mollicone last June, with the city getting a cut of the sale, However, for now the sale of the Silvia school, which has fallen on extreme disrepair over the years, fell through.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Non-profit food pantry looking for space after city takes back school
