By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - This morning, a food bank serving 255 low-income Kenton County families each month is opening a new centrally located facility that's about six times the size of its current cramped quarters.

AT A GLANCE

What: Action Ministries food bank. Where: 4375 Boron Drive, Covington, across from Johnny's Toys. Hours of operation: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. today and all Fridays in May, as well as 9 a.m.-noon May 10. In June, the food bank will switch to regular hours of 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Information: To volunteer, call (859) 356-3670. Volunteers are needed for all shifts and duties, including stocking shelves, landscaping and lawn care and office work.

For nine years, Action Ministries Inc. - a nonprofit mission run by churches, civic groups and other volunteers - operated in a 1,500-square-foot annex of Decoursey Baptist Church in Fairview. The cramped quarters meant the volunteer food bank had to limit the number of volunteers and to store food "in freezers all over Northern Kentucky," said Tom Dorman, executive director of Action Ministries.

The new 8,000-square-foot headquarters at 4375 Boron Drive, across from Johnny's Toys, will enable the volunteer organization to store everything at one site instead of dozens, and increase its hours of operation, Dorman said.

"Until now, we've had commodities and paper goods stored all over - at a warehouse in Florence, at Ryland Heights Elementary, and in people's garages," Dorman said. "This brings it all under one roof."

As volunteers stocked the portable shelves this week, workers installed the ceiling in the room that will double as a meeting place for Action Ministries' board of directors and a classroom for clients who want to attend health classes or earn a high school equivalency certificate. This weekend, workers will install carpeting donated by Sam's Club in the building's offices and lay tile flooring in the restrooms for volunteers and clients.

An anonymous donor, who will be honored at a yet-to-be-scheduled dedication in May, contributed half of the new facility's $450,000 cost, with Action Ministries raising the rest.

To keep costs down, many contractors donated materials or workers or both, Dorman said. For example, Don Marksberry saved the nonprofit group $40,000 on concrete and labor. Arc Electric workers donated their weekends to install electrical wiring, and workers from Bob Cox' Surplus Connections Worldwide built the new food bank for less than half what it would have cost if Action Ministries had bid the job. And Toyota's North American headquarters donated $4,500 to purchase a walk-in refrigerator and five laptop computers.

The move means volunteer Nancy Ballinger can interview prospective clients from a private office, rather than a worn green card table that sat in the middle of Action Ministries' previous distribution area. Parking is more plentiful, and volunteers will be able to load bulky items into clients' cars from a large entryway that's protected from inclement weather.

Action Ministries' clients include everyone from two-income families scraping by on minimum-wages to single parents with two or three children, Dorman said. One-third are senior citizens, and 45 of those live in the Colony, a senior citizens building in Covington's Latonia neighborhood.

Before Action Ministries opened its food bank in 1993, the nearest assistance for southern Kenton County's poorest residents was in downtown Covington, Dorman said. However, many rural families lacked the transportation to get into the city for help.

Today, the food bank's service area extends from 28th Street in Latonia to the southern end of Kenton. County. It serves all but downtown Covington, Erlanger and Elsmere, which have social service agencies meeting similar needs.

Besides providing direct assistance, Action Ministries also provides bulk goods - such as paper items that aren't covered by food stamps - to several other charitable organizations, including Be Concerned in Covington. Action Ministries' volunteers also connect families with resources in the community, including job training and help in earning a high school equivalency certificate.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com