Fire destroys food bank van, toasts bread

Coeur d’Alene’s food bank lost its 1989 Dodge van and 500 loaves of bread Thursday when the van caught fire. “It was an old clunker – with well over 100,000 miles – but it filled the gap,” said Angie Lee, the Community Action Partnership’s food bank manager. The driver was returning from Bimbo’s Bakery in Spokane, which is the food bank’s largest weekly bread donor. After he parked the van to run an errand in Post Falls, the driver noticed smoke coming from under the hood. No one was hurt in the fire, which officials believe was caused by a fuel leak. Lee said the food bank will hold a fundraiser for a replacement van. “We’re looking at around $10,000 in order to get something reliable,” she said. With the loss of the Dodge, the agency is down to one van as it approaches its busy season, Lee said. Many businesses put on food drives in the fall to help the food bank stock its pantry for winter. Often, they need the food picked up, Lee said. Donations for a new van can be sent to the Community Action Partnership Food Bank, 4942 Industrial Ave. East, Coeur d’Alene, 83815. They should be designated “van donation.”