Johnston Partnership on the Move, Opens Aug. 21

The Johnston Partnership is on the move once again.

After almost a year at its temporary location at 64th Street the Partnership is moving down the road.

The move, which began this week, means the Partnership is closed to residents today and Thursday, but will reopen on Aug. 21.

"Things went really well," Shawna Beron, project coordinator for the Partnership Place said of looking for new digs. "We spent the entire nine months looking for places and things kind of all came together."

The Johnston Partnership, which opened in 1993, serves the community with a clothes closet, food pantry and other needs.

A relocating committee talked to with local businesses and realtors to find the perfect new home for Partnership Place. Eventually negotiating a lease at 5870 Merle Hay Road.

"We have this ready to move in since we knew the end date," she said. "This is something we knew we had to have in place for the city to make the next move on the public safety building."

When the to a city-owned home on 64th Street, they knew the location was temporary.

The city's , which includes a new police station and fire station, will be located in same area of the current Partnership and is set to break ground this fall.

The new Johnston Partnership location, which is west of the Johnston Post Office in Village Square, offers a little more than 2,000 square feet of space, Beron said.

"The layout is very accommodating for our operations, we'll have a lobby area, store front area, a couple of offices, a room for sorting and boxing food and storing food and clothes," she said.

The new building is also handicap accessible, something Beron said clients will appreciate.

The Partnership board will be diligent about fundraising in order to sustain the new location, Beron said.

"We're hopeful we'll be here as long as we need to be," she said.

Beron said anyone interested in donating, volunteering or being a board member for the Partnership should contact her through the Partnership website.

Once things are settled at the new location, Beron hopes to have a open house or other event to reinforce the new location.