Sedona’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul food pantry will be moving into a new 1,500-square-foot building tentatively by the summer of 2027. About 75 attended the Oct. 14 ground-breaking ahead of the anticipated start of construction on Monday, Oct. 19, of the new about $950,000 building that will be constructed on the northwest side of the existing St. John Vianney Catholic Church.

“This is an opportunity to serve more people and provide them a space that has greater dignity and really to establish something that will go on beyond all of us, you know, go on for generations,” Father Ignatius Mazanowski said following the blessing of the grounds.

The new building is an upgrade from the current 450-square-foot building, and will be owned by St. John Vianney and leased to SVdP. It includes a 672-square-foot food pantry, 158 square feet of storage space, a waiting room, foot entrance area, two restrooms, a 104-square-foot office, a janitor’s closet and a 15-square-foot fire riser.

SVdP’s Sedona Conference has been serving the community since Sept. 7, 1987, but demand for assistance keeps growing and the current building falls short for the about 75 weekly individuals that use the pantry. It doesn’t provide adequate shelter from inclement weather, representatives said, and the inadequate storage means food donations often must be turned down and retired volunteers often struggle with setting up exterior shade canopies.

“As is typical of volunteers in the city, we are predominantly senior citizens, our oldest being a young 88 years old,” wrote Carol Copp, who schedules SVdP volunteers at the pantry, to the city’s Community Development Department in 2025.

“In terms of the fundraising, we got approval this summer for the building and to begin to raise funds,” Director of Development Steve Nache said. “We spent about a month planning, and then the last six weeks engaging leadership donors who were already invested in St. Vincent de Paul and presented opportunities for them to be involved. In less than two months of fundraising, we raised almost $1 million.”

Those are among the reasons for the “And Who Is My Neighbor?” Capital Campaign, which raised funds for the new building.

“Mike Connolly was the founding donor, but we’ve had support from many donors in the church, from local government,” [other local service providers], “staff here at the church and, in particular, Father Mazanowski, who has graciously given us this land on which we can build this building, and also all the Vincentians, past and present, who work to deliver services to the needy in our community, there are about 52 of us,” President of SVdP St. John Vianney Sedona conference President Andrew Brearley said.

“My father Bruce J. Connolly passed away during COVID and, prior to his last few years of his life, he was very involved in St. Vincent de Paul,” Connolly said. “I was thinking of ways to try to honor him. So I pledged the initial $350,000 to get it going.

“He’d be really proud of this new building. He was passionate about the importance of issues of ministry.”

The city approved the conditional use permit in January, according to Director of Parish and Chapel Initiatives Rae-Mi LeRoy. “Then we submitted for the building plan in February, and it was finally approved in September.”

“This area actually hasn’t been really used for anything,” she said, standing in the wet dirt from recent storms that delayed the ground breaking from its original date of Oct. 12. “We have that beautiful tree there, which will be outside the front of the building. If anybody wants to wait outside, there’s a nice spot, it’s easy access in and out over here, so we just knew it is good fit.”

“Also, our delivery trucks can slip right in here and do the deliveries and be out of the cycle of traffic, which is going to be really helpful,” she said.

The church is also exploring a second way in and out of the property for vehicles, according to LeRoy.

“We are looking into it just for safety purposes because this was built a long time ago, so there’s only one way in and one way out,” she said. “I don’t think they would build a place with one entrance in and one entrance out these days.”

The free food pantry is open every Thursday from 9 to 10:45 a.m. The food pantry is stocked by parish food drives, the community Green Bag drive, discounted purchases from St. Mary’s Food Bank, monthly deliveries from the SVdP Diocesan Council in Phoenix and weekly shopping trips done by volunteers. The next parish food drive is Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 15. To donate or learn more, call 928-821-1292.

“Everyone deserves dignity, and we believe each person is made in the image and likeness of God, and they have inherent dignity,” Ignatius said. “So we want to honor that, and respect that, and show that we actually live out what we believe.”