FARMINGTON -- It will take one week and $33,000 to put a new roof on the Family Connection Center food bank in Layton.
It will take a little less than that for the FCC to buy a cargo van, which it will use to pick-up and deliver small food orders.
Both the roof and the van are being funded with Davis County Community Development Block Grant money.
The federal money is distributed through the Department of Housing and Urban Development based on the county being an entitlement county -- having a population greater than 300,000 people.
On Tuesday, the Davis County Commission unanimously approved allotting $58,320 in grant money to the FCC.
The funds will be used to put a new roof on the 25,000 square-foot food bank at the corner of Fairfield Road and SR-193, said Daneen Adams, FCC director of development.
Because of snow, roofers were unable to begin work on the project until Thursday, Adams said. The work is scheduled to be completed within a week, she said.
The new roof will include sky lights, Adams said, which should reduce the cost to heat the food bank warehouse.
The money allotted to the FCC is part of the county's CDBG funds that it distributed in 2011, Davis County Commissioner John Petroff Jr. said.
"The money is finally arriving," Petroff said. "We need to get that roof done. It was already shot (deteriorating) prior to the Dec. 1 windstorm."
The federal grant will also be used to buy a new cargo van, said Adams, which will reduce the wear being placed on the center's older box trucks, currently being used to pick-up and deliver food orders.
Having a cargo van for smaller orders, Adams said, should save the FCC some gas money because it will limit the use of the larger box trucks that do not get as good as gas mileage.
Finding drivers with the necessary experience of driving the larger box trucks can also be difficult for the center, she said.
Outside of needing a new van and new roof on the food bank, Adams said, the food bank is in good condition considering it just came through the holiday season. The food bank is down on financial donations, she said, but does have a good supply of food available.
However, the food supply is always in a precarious situation.
In 2011, there was an 18 percent increase in the number of people who put in for food orders from the food bank, compared to 2010, Adams said. She said many of the families utilizing the service appear to be middle-class families who were turning to the food bank for help for the first time.
Based on that, Adams said, the Davis food bank is always in need of financial and food donations.
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