Since Rochester Food Not Bombs began it�s lease on it�s new location at 367 Lyell Avenue, we�ve been renovating the building for the purpose of having a commercial kitchen and refrigeration facilities, bulk food storage and public assembly for fundraising events and food distribution. Rochester Food Not Bombs has received grant funding, donation, coordinated fundraising events and rent credit from the landlord for building renovation work. There was definitely a lot more work than we expected; but with hard work and an aggressive grant writing campaign, we�re making it happen!

The Rochester Food Not Bombs crew found the building a disaster, as the previous tenants left a building full of appliances and piles of every imaginable appliance part. After calling another local used appliance store to clear out as much as they wanted, our crew went to work and filled about four forty-foot �roll-off� dumpsters full of junked appliance parts. After that, we went to work spackling, mudding, scraping paint and otherwise repairing the beaten walls; we then slapped a fresh coat of paint on the walls and several coats of fresh white semi-gloss for the kitchen area. We poured concrete, set up our office and made out like bandits at an auction at a restaurant on Lake Avenue. We repaired the building�s pipes, installed a new water heater and then a commercial stove, three bay sink, one bay sink with sprayer. When the corner store next to St. Joe�s got evicted, we bought a hood for our stove, assorted pieces of kitchen equipment and a twelve door cooler! Nothing spells f-u-n more than breaking down and hauling a several ton commercial cooler across the city in a trailer in three trips, before reassembling it! Ken Jobes, the owner of Honeyoe Pub and a new board member, built us a stage! Taking crow bars, claw hammers, ladders, scaffolds and strong-bodied volunteers, we ripped down the rotted ceiling that was a mix of plaster and wire mesh. We tarred up the holes in the roof and torched down a couple new patches to take care of the leaks. After taking a saw-zall to even the plaster wire mesh edges, we took homemade bracers, a drill gun and volunteer crews to attach dry wall to the water damaged ceiling. It took more buckets of Liquid Nails than you can shake a stick at to replace all of the missing tiles on the new and old ceiling. And little did we know it, but we were just getting started!

Prior to our hearing at the City Planning Commission, our architect made up a plan to make our building complaint for public assembly! We had to put up a dividing wall between the food storage space and the space for public assembly, install an emergency exit door, make the front entrance handicapped accessible and install five toilets, two of which being handicapped accessible! What do you when you add together a concrete saw, a jackhammer, a commercial door, conduit benders, a few days and a determined grassroots not-for- profit organization? You guessed it, a new emergency exit! We bought a used door wide enough for handicapped accessibility, ripped out the old one and put it in the front. Of course, installing the new toilets was the real challenge; we started off by getting plans drawn up by another architect (more than once) and getting them approved by the plumbing inspector. As luck would have it, our building was built directly onto the concrete, thus to install new plumbing, the plumbers would have to jackhammer trenches into the floor to lay the new sewage piping. After receiving several ridiculously high estimates, we found a plumber to split the work with us. To get an affordable price on the plumbing, we�ve had to rip out the concrete floor so the plumbers can just lay the piping; as we�ve all learned, nothing beats that invigorating feeling of breaking apart concrete with an electric jackhammer!

Now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Another drywall wall here, new walls for the bathroom there, and half a dozen illuminated exit lights in circuit, and we�re good to go! The only remaining project lies with installing the hood in the kitchen, which we�ll need plans, a hole in the wall and an ansel fire extinguishing system. In mid-July, our new location at 367 Lyell Ave. will be a work of art, as far as we�re concerned. Our funding has been coming through, as well income from our fundraising events, so we�ve been able to keep up with the costs. Rochester Food Not Bombs has been able to accomplish the above work through our incredible resourcefulness, utilization of volunteers and in-kind donations and all around cost-saving skills! Aside from borrowing many of our tools, buying used supplies and shopping at �Mr. Seconds,� we also stumbled across, Gifts In-Kind, a United Way program that receives donations from area businesses and then redistributes the supplies, free of charge, to area not for profits. Gifts In-Kind has been a godsend; we�ve received paint, plaster-mix, medical push carts (which make great office cabinets and tool chests), office supplies, computer equipment, as well as hygiene supplies and other goodies to pass out to our clients on Sundays.

Perhaps the most incredible part of the building renovations has been all of the people that have been involved with the project. If everyone involved in renovating the building wrote a page on their experiences, we�d have an incredible book to publish! So many volunteers have come down to help us out; we�ve had hardcore rock and roll kids, homeless men and kids from the emergency and transitional shelter at St. Joe�s, families living a few streets away, older people on disability and retirees, college kids from local social justice groups and many more! We�ve found that the best way to get volunteers is to show up at social justice gatherings and sell t-shirts and speak before crowds looking filthy, exhausted and with a crazy grin! Much love and appreciation goes out to everyone who�s helped us and lost a piece of their mind while working at 367 Lyell Ave. For much of the contracting work, we�ve been able to provide paid work to low-income families and formerly homeless; you�d be surprised how much energy and contracting expertise lies amongst a population that society�s written off as useless. Special thanks goes out to the staff at St. Joe�s, especially Dave Gardner for always getting us supplies on Sundays and lending a hand whenever we need it, Mike Childs for being an incredible resource, lending us all of St. Joe�s tools and putting up with us bugging him all time for technical assistance (we know you love us), Judy Thorslund for having a heart of gold and always being supportive and Tim Sigrist for forgetting about all the past drama at the St. Joe�s shows while speaking before the City Planning Commission. We�re all family in the St. Joseph�s House community; we couldn�t have done it without you!