Bridge of Mercy, a Verde Valley nonprofit food pantry currently located in the Hope Community Church at 412 N. 10th Street in Cottonwood, will be leaving its location at the end of January and is looking for a new space.
“We need a different space, and I either need it to be a space that is donated for our use by someone who owns a building or someone who’s willing to rent us the space for a nominal fee,” CEO Stacey Hayden said. “It is, I believe, a tax writeoff for someone who would be willing to do that. And if not, I mean, the service that we have been providing just comes to an end. Or we have to find a way to serve differently.”
Bridge of Mercy opened in October 2021 and has been open on the first and third Wednesday of the month, serving 1,200 people from around the Verde Valley this November. In addition to free food, it provides clothing and hygiene products, as well as toys for low-income families during Christmas.
“We are grateful for the space that Hope Community Church has donated,” Hayden said. “They’ve allowed us to have storage there, and that’s very helpful, we also have a couple freezers and refrigerators there. Ideally, if we could have 1,500 to 3,000 square feet. We’ve definitely outgrown the space that we were in. But we’ll make it work, whatever we get.”
Hayden added the nonprofit would be ambitious enough to accept a space greater than 3,000 square feet “and see where that takes us.”
In March 2023, Bridge of Mercy launched a seven-home housing project in Rimrock designed for widows and low-income seniors.
“We could store some goods there, but we wouldn’t be able to do a distribution from there,” Hayden said. “We’ve got [people living] in there. There’s some places that need work. We could use it as a staging area, we would definitely be willing to feed the community from there. But I don’t have a space where I could set it up for people to come shop.”
Bridge of Mercy has been using a shopping model that allows clients to select food that best meets their needs from the shelves.
“I want to appeal to the public for some help. The work that we do is important,” Hayden said. “We treat people like they’re our neighbors and our friends, and not like they’re here for a handout.”
Bridge of Mercy can be reached at (928) 239-1661 or through their website at bridgeofmercy.org.
