Anderson’s The Gathering of the Queens leaving Anderson Impact Center after no agreement on lease
An Anderson volunteer organization that runs a well-known food pantry is losing the space it’s operated out of for about two years. As IPR’s Thomas Ouellette reports, a local charter school application hints that the space may once again be used to teach local kids.
Marilynn Collier leads The Gathering of the Queens. She says the organization signed an initial seven-month lease with the Anderson Impact Center, beginning in December 2022. When that was up, she says the Queens were never told to leave or renew.
Now, says Collier, the Impact Center is giving them until early March to leave the space.
“We have been in meetings with them in reference to securing a lease, and we had offered monies to stay for so many months, and they said that it was not sustainable,” Collier says.
When asked for comment, the board of the Impact Center sent a statement. The board says the Queens have outgrown the facility and “the current status has threatened the financial sustainability of the AIC.” The board says the two organizations were unable to reach an agreement on a new lease.
The board also confirmed that while the Queens operated in the building, they made irregular, lump-sum donations to the center.
Collier says people have offered to help the Queens find a new location, but she worries there will be difficulty moving the product and equipment on such a short timeline.
“The community is really what’s important,” she says. “It’s not about the Queens. It’s not about Anderson Impact Center. It’s about the community and their needs.”
But she says there is no animosity between the Queens and the Impact Center.
“I think that a lot of people believe the two organizations are angry with one another and I can’t speak for them. I can speak for the Queens,” she said. “We thank Sherry Peak, we thank the Anderson Impact Center for allowing us to be here because without them allowing us to be here, we would still be on the corner. Because we have been here, a lot of people have been helped.”
While an official count for the Queens’ total supply has not been done, Collier says their current operation includes more than 200 shelving units and 300 crates packed with food and hygiene products.
New charter school location?
The Anderson Impact Center was originally built as a school. And now, the URBAN ACT Academy has applied to the Ball State University Office of Charter Schools to be authorized as an official charter school.
In its application, there’s a lease agreement with the Impact Center. School organizers started a tutoring program called The HIVE in the building last fall.
URBAN ACT Academy wants to start with kindergarten through second grade in August, and expand to fifth grade by 2029.
Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer. Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu
