Ebenezer Stone Ministries planning community center, grocery store

MILWAUKEE - Ebenezer Stone Ministries has big plans for the city's west side. For 26 years, the building served as the Pilgrim Lutheran Church daycare center. Now, Ebenezer Stone Ministries is revamping it to be a community resource center and affordable grocery store.

Revamping the location

What To Know:

"We are in the early planning stages. We’re getting it cleaned out. There is 26 years of daycare items," said Hayden Penkert, Ebenezer Stone Ministries president of the board of directors.

Penkert said the idea is to have things like mental health prevention, health insurance resources, veteran support, Milwaukee police resources and an affordable grocery store.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

"If we can bring in those families and say we’ve got groceries that are affordable costs that they can get to quickly, not to mention all the resources that we have upper level, take advantage of those as well," said Kelly Eger, board member for Ebenezer Stone Ministries.

The new location is on a bus line, has a parking lot and will help fill a gap in a food desert. The grocery story will sit in the basement of the new spot, mostly run by volunteers.

The organization hopes to start operations around the spring.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Christina Van Zelst and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

NewsMilwaukee