FARMINGTON – The Care and Share Food Closet started moving back into the Fairbanks School Meeting House Friday and plans to open there Monday. New hours for the Food Closet will be from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, said volunteer organizer Carolyn McLaughlin.

The Closet is an emergency service that provides three to five days of food for every 30-day period. It moved out of the Meeting House space at the end of December while crews worked on the building. A construction crew needed the food closet space to be vacant so it could put in a new ceiling and complete electrical wiring and duct work.

The Closet was expected to move back in March, but the building wasn’t quite ready, so during March and April, it has been operating out of the Fairbanks Union Church.

Save-A-Lot manager Matt Packard has allowed the volunteers to store food items at the store since December, McLaughlin said.

“He’s been our angel,” she added. Volunteers have packed as many as 50 individual boxes a week at the store and brought them to the church. Since they can’t plan on how many families they’ll get each day, they sometimes needed to go to the store two or three times a week, she said.

What food items are still there will be transported to the new space on Saturday. A crew was putting up shelves and arranging freezers Friday in preparation for moving day.

Prior to the closing in December, people who regularly visited the Closet were given food for January and February along with December’s allocation. Food supplies were also available at Fairbanks Union Church to help people in need while the Closet was closed.

“We’ve seen a lot of new people over the winter,” McLaughlin said Friday. With oil and gas prices rising this winter, McLaughlin expected people to need more food around the first of March, so volunteers gave out pre-packed boxes at the church.

Donations from area churches have been down while the Closet has been closed, she said, which limits the amount that will need to be moved. The Closet does expect a commodity shipment from the federal government in May to help provide some food items. They receive shipments four times a year, she added.

Some cash donations have also been received lately, she said.

The newly finished space in the basement of the building is accessible through a side door, so no stairs are involved and entry is easier. The trade-off is that along with the new facility comes an increase in rent, she said. McLaughlin expects more fundraisers will have to be held to help with the expense.

The food closet serves the towns of Farmington, West Farmington, New Sharon, New Vineyard, North New Portland, Temple and parts of Chesterville, she said.