St. Vincent de Paul renovates dining hall, closes thrift store

YOUNGSTOWN — The St. Vincent de Paul Society’s dining hall is undergoing a $71,500 renovation, primarily to the 62-year-old building’s exterior.

The work is part of significant changes being made by the organization’s Youngstown council that helps the needy.

The society recently sold its thrift store and office at 235 Wick Ave. for $190,000 after making $115,000 worth of repairs to the building. Without the repairs, it would have been extremely difficult to sell the building, said Fred Pisani, the society’s Youngstown council president.

As part of the work being done to the dining hall at 208 W. Front St., the building’s second floor is being converted from a storage area into office space for the society, he said.

The building project won’t stop the society’s primary mission of feeding the needy, he said.

The hall on Front Street, used by the society for the past 26 years, serves meals to about 4,800 people a month, Pisani said. The society’s food pantry on 317 Via Mt. Carmel provides food baskets to more than 600 needy people a month, he said.

The work at the 3,120-square-foot hall will begin shortly and should be done in September or October.

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