BLACKFOOT — Foster children across East Idaho now have a new lifeline after the grand opening of a 12,000-square-foot facility built almost entirely from donated labor, materials and community goodwill.

The Bingham Outreach Center is home to The Village, a free resource shop located at 250 W. Judicial St. in Blackfoot. The facility, which serves foster children and families, recently held its grand opening, marking a years-long journey its founder describes as “miracle after miracle.”

Jacque Burt, president of the Idaho Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, is the driving force behind the project — and the first to say the new facility was the product of an extraordinary outpouring of support from volunteers and area businesses.

The association had previously outgrown its 1,700-square-foot space and had been seeking room to expand for years. The new facility required a complete gutting and renovation of a former auto parts store dating to the 1970s — a project with immense costs and no clear path to funding.

That changed after The Community Dinner Table, a food pantry already operating in the building, was offered a chance to retain its space following the purchase and partner with the association. Despite shared concerns about financing, both organizations decided to move forward.

“It was just a leap of faith,” Burt said. “There was a lot of money, we didn’t have it, and we just decided to go for it.”

After Burt held a press conference announcing the purchase and asking for community help, contractors and businesses began volunteering their services.

K&D Electric came on board first, with its owner personally offering to handle all electrical work at no charge — a contribution Burt estimates at roughly $130,000. The company later returned to cut new windows and widen doorways, again at no cost. Booth Architecture of Pocatello reached out after seeing the press conference, donating complete building blueprints, coordinating all required engineering and helping expedite the permitting process.

Jerry Gregerson of the Gregerson Foundation mentored Burt through the general contracting process while supplying lumber, framing crews and all associated labor free of charge. Vision Wi-Fi donated camera and security systems and transferred internet service to the new building, a package Burt values at more than $50,000.

When HVAC bids came in above $100,000, Blackfoot-based High Tech Comfort submitted a lower bid of approximately $79,000. The very next day, Burt received an email from AgWest Farm Credit offering $80,000 — nearly the exact amount needed.

Harper Engineering donated all insulation materials and installation. Black Label Painting and Sherwin-Williams joined forces to supply and apply all paint throughout the building. Two Brothers Sheetrock completed drywall at significantly reduced rates. Interior designer Sonia Barney of Sonia Barney Design volunteered her services and connected the center with Coverings in Idaho Falls, which provided discounted flooring and ongoing financial donations. Katie Harris of Get Found First handled the organization’s website and promotional work throughout the renovation at no charge.

Beyond the trades, thousands of hours of volunteer labor came from community members, churches and civic organizations who showed up to haul debris, sort donations and set up the new space. The city of Blackfoot granted free dumping rights during construction.

“This building has been built off of love and donations and volunteers,” Burt said. “No one person did all this. I may be driving the bus, but there are a lot of people who stepped up.”

The Village operates as a free resource center exclusively serving children in foster care across 16 counties in East Idaho, with reach extending to families in Twin Falls, Boise and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

When a child enters foster care — often arriving with nothing more than the clothes on their back — the center provides suitcases, new socks and underwear, age-appropriate clothing, shoes, school supplies and hygiene products. Everything given to a child belongs to them permanently, regardless of where they are placed.

The new facility adds sensory tools, including ceiling swings, vibration plates and rebounders, that allow foster families and caseworkers to identify what helps a child self-regulate. A resource library provides foster parents with materials on childhood trauma and behavioral support.

For birthdays and other milestones, the facility features a dedicated birthday room stocked with new gifts, allowing caseworkers and foster families to shop free of charge. For families who cannot travel, an online order form allows requests to be filled and delivered.

The center also provides independent living kits for young adults who age out of the foster system at 18, containing everything needed to set up a first apartment. New programs include a kinship support group for grandparents and other relatives unexpectedly raising foster children.

The Idaho Falls Rescue Mission has taken office space in the building, and a conference room is available to community groups for a minimal fee.

Every person working at the center, including Burt, is a volunteer.

Burt said the center’s mission goes beyond meeting physical needs. When children come through the door, they are encouraged to choose for themselves — a small but meaningful gesture that gives kids who often struggle with their place in the world a sense of agency.

While adults can generally seek help when difficulties arise, Burt said, a child in foster care has done nothing to end up in their situation and cannot lift themselves out. It falls to organizations like this one to step up and be there for them.

“We want to be there for them,” Burt said. “We want to give them hope — and that’s kind of our motto — that hope grows here in the village. We want to help these children see that there is life out there for them, that they can rise above this, that they’re cared for, they matter, and that people in the community care about them. We are their village and we have to do it.”

Those wishing to donate clothing or supplies can drop them off at The Village porch locations in Ammon, Shelley, Pocatello, Rexburg and Rigby. For more information, visit idfapa.org/the-village/.