Second Harvest Tri-Cities' building project took a step closer to becoming a reality Wednesday, thanks to a donation from Washington River Protection Solutions.
The Hanford tank farm contractor contributed $75,000 to Second Harvest's capital building project, bringing the total in the building fund to $95,000.
Four charities received contributions Wednesday from Washington River Protection Solutions and its partners URS Corporation, Energy Solutions and Areva. In all, donations totaled $200,000.
"We know there is a need in the community for immediate help and long-term needs too. So we looked at both needs and that's how we came up with the charitable organizations we gave the money to," said Rosalyn Page, Washington River Protection Solutions workforce resources manager.
In addition to Second Harvest, Page gave checks to:
-- The Tri-Cities Food Bank, $30,000, to buy food.
-- Grace Clinic, $30,000. The clinic provides free medical care to those without insurance.
-- Columbia Basin College, $65,000, for its worker retraining program. The donation will enable 24 people to receive a year's worth of retraining support.
"The community gives WRPS so much support for our projects at the tank farm at Hanford that we want to give back what and where we can," Page said.
Food is a traditional need this time of year, and so is free medical treatment.
"Those are the community's immediate needs. CBC's retraining program is the long-term need. We felt it may benefit some of the workers who lost their jobs in the last round of layoffs," Page said.
Second Harvest's expansion projects also falls under the heading of long-term needs. Food donated to Second Harvest Tri-Cities goes to more than 50 neighborhood food banks and meal centers in the region.
Kathye Kilgore, Second Harvest Tri-Cities director, said the expansion project will cost $1.7 million. Second Harvest already has purchased land from the Port of Pasco at Highway 395 and Foster Wells north of Pasco.
"We've been talking to corporations and businesses we thought could handle a large donation and Washington River Protection Solutions was the first to step up. Now we're hoping others will follow," she said.
At this point, I'm looking at all contributions as an important donation. If schools want to do penny drives, that's great," Kilgore said.
