The Lancaster Township location of Mick’s All-American Pub will become the new home of Meals on Wheels of Lancaster.
As LNP previously reported, Mick’s will move to a new building in Willow Valley Crossroads at some unspecified time later this year.
Kevin Ressler, executive director of Meals on Wheels, said it has purchased the restaurant at 1411 Columbia Ave. for $550,000 and will lease it back to Mick’s for a few months. The property is just west of Jackson Drive, near Stone Mill Plaza
“I am ecstatic,” Ressler said, describing it as “the kind of project that transforms the type of care that homebound individuals in this community can receive.”
“We needed more kitchen space; we also needed more office space,” he said. “This accomplishes both.”
In addition to operating more efficiently, he said, the organization plans to start catering events held at the new building, and being part of a job training program.
In four years, Ressler said, the nonprofit has gone from 145 clients served daily to about 400, and he expects growth to continue.
The organization currently has nine employees and 400 regular monthly volunteers.
It serves those who cannot reasonably provide for themselves, with about 40 percent of clients paid for by the Lancaster County Office of Aging; others including those with disabilities or recovering from medical procedures are covered by different agencies or pay privately.
Once Mick’s leaves, Ressler said, Meals on Wheels is planning about $200,000 in renovations and expansions, including a carport and event space.
He said the mortgage payments will be less than its lease at 1085-B Manheim Pike currently costs, but that Meals on Wheels is continuing raising funds for the project.
Planning is underway, he said, for “Lancaster’s first annual croquet fundraising tournament,” which does not yet have a firm date.
This rendering shows the carport that Meals on Wheels of Lancaster intends to add to the building at 1411 Columbia Ave. in Lancaster Township that it has purchased to be its future home.