Regenerative Roots Association distributes seedlings in May. The nonprofit is under contract to buy a building on Kinsley Street for its food pantry operation. (Photo/Regenerative Roots Facebook)
NASHUA, NH – Regenerative Roots Association, a nonprofit that attacks local food insecurity from a variety of angles, will soon have a dedicated space of it own from which to operate its food pantry.
The organization recently entered into a contract to buy the building at 51½ Kinsley St. that houses Marks Furniture and Bedding. The tentative closing date is this month.
Once the nonprofit moves in, it’ll be the first long-term operating space the nonprofit has had since it started operating in 2014. The nonprofit’s headquarters are the law office of Andrew Morin, its executive director.
The nonprofit began operating a food pantry three years ago that distributes food that supports more than 200 local families as well as the United Way of Greater Nashua’s daily pop-up food pantries.
“Since that point, we’ve expanded such that we’d like to have a long-term facility,” Morin told the planning board.
The Planning Board issued a conditional use permit to the organization for the Kinsley Street space in May. Marks Furniture and Bedding is still operating out of the building. Owner Mark Cadieux told the board that he plans to retire.
Regenerative Roots Association is under contract to buy the building at 51½ Kinsley St. to house its food pantry. Marks’s Furniture has occupied the building since 1979. (Photo/MLS)
The food pantry isn’t open to the general public, but distributes food to a client list. Pickup hours are twice a week two or three hours at a time. Morin noted that the foot traffic at the location from the food pantry operation will have less of an impact on the neighborhood than the current retail use of the property.
Food for the pantry is largely from donations from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, Morin said.
Regenerative Roots promotes food system sustainability, organic local agriculture, and education, operating community gardens, including in Hudson, facilitates farm-to-school programs, distributes thousands of seedlings ever year and supports development of community orchards throughout New England.
Regenerative Roots also provides much of the food distributed by The United Way of Greater Nashua’s daily popup food pantries, Mike Apfelburg, president, told the planning board in May.
“We could not do it without Regenerative Roots,” he said.
Apfelburg said that the new space will “give them the ability to increase their services to our community.”
The organization’s most recent local project has been developing a community garden at Navaho Park, in partnership with the city. The garden is expected to be open to gardeners next year.
The one-story 4,428-square-foot warehouse-style building on Kinsley Street was constructed in 1910 and has operated as retail or warehouse space throughout its history, according to city records. The furniture store has been at that location since 1979.
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