QULIN, Mo. -- Qulin Nutrition Center will hold a grand opening from 1-3 p.m. Saturday to celebrate their new location on Second Street.
Door prizes, cake and tours will be included in the event, said administrator Suzie Leutert.
It marks the completion of a project that started more than three years ago, to upgrade from a 1940s-era house of about 3,000 square feet to a new 5,000-square-foot location.
The community and board members worked very hard to get to this point, according to Leutert, who believes the upgraded facility is making new people aware of the services they offer.
A group of young farmers that now meet there for breakfast recently pooled their money to help purchase an industrial potato peeler for the center, Leutert said as an example. Staff members have been hand peeling about 100 pounds of potatoes per meal, she said.
Meals have been served from the new building since November.
The center provides about 80 meals a day to homebound seniors in eastern Butler County, as well as about 60 takeout and sit-down meals for clients.
Finishing touches were still underway to a thrift shop and some historical additions to the building at that time staff moved in, but these are now complete, Leutert said.
The building includes a bank teller cage installed just inside the front door that was saved from a Qulin bank. New historical items to be displayed Saturday include an account of a decades old robbery at that bank.
This will be part of a permanent historical display, Leutert said.
The thrift store is now open on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week, and other days as volunteer help permits.
A grant of $250,000 was awarded in late 2015 by the Missouri Department of Economic Development for this project.
More than $500,000 in donations were raised in 2014 through a DED tax credit program to help with construction.
The building is also now equipped with a generator that can now keep all of the center operational, should it be needed as a shelter or during an emergency. The generator was purchased from state government surplus at a cost of $5,000. With just seven hours of operation under the Army, the equipment would normally cost $40,000, Leutert said.