Suburban General Hospital in Bellevue is expected to see an influx of traffic tomorrow evening, but it won't be new patients.

North Boroughs Food Pantry will open for the first time in the basement of the hospital."The hospital really came to our rescue," said Carolyn Pschirer, manager of the Hampton office of North Hills Community Outreach, "because we were within a couple weeks of having to move before we finally found a savior."

The pantry, which was taken over by the outreach program in 2002, lost its free space in Northgate Grant Community Center in Bellevue on July 1 after the building was sold to a developer in the spring.

The hospital, which was the only organization to offer space to the pantry, already provides space for the outreach programs Faith in Action and Youth Leadership.

The hospital's purpose of providing care for people in the community is in the same vein as the purpose of the community outreach program, said Marge Hardt, chief executive officer of Suburban General.

"They asked if we could possibly give them space," she said, "and since we think this is an incredibly important service for the North Boroughs [area], it was our pleasure to do it. They are good partners, and they do a lot of good things for the community."

Hardt added, "It's a win-win situation for both of us. We're Bellevue's largest employer, and anything that's advantageous for the community -- and we exist to serve the community -- is very consistent with our mission."

Food pantry client Elaine Bricmont, of Avalon, was pleased when she heard that the pantry was moving to the hospital on South Jackson Avenue. "I thought it was good that it's on a bus route, and because it's in a hospital, it will be very accessible for the disabled. I'm curious to see how it will work out."

Bricmont, 46, whose health and career were ruined as the result of car accidents, regularly uses the pantry to stretch her fixed income. "The food bank really helps if I run out of food stamps, and that's less money coming out of my precious resources for basic living. My friends are in a similar situation, and we count on that food bank."

In the two years since the community outreach program took over the pantry, use of the service has risen from 66 families in 2002 to 308 families in the fiscal year 2003-04. Pschirer is unsure of whether that number will go up again because of the move, but she acknowledged that the pantry will have more visibility in the community, which may draw more people who realize that they qualify for the assistance.

The increased visibility already has attracted more volunteers, and they have been working daily for the past two weeks, cleaning, painting and installing shelves for the nonperishable room and setting up refrigeration units for the cold storage room. The hospital's maintenance crew has installed phone lines and electrical outlets.

Linda St. Clair, a retired Mellon Bank employee from Ross, read about the pantry's call for volunteers to help with the transition in Bellevue United Presbyterian Church's monthly newsletter.

Last week, she started helping staffers stock the shelves. "I wanted to help because I believe that this is a worthwhile cause," St. Clair said. "With all the wealth in this country, everyone should have enough food."

Michael Wurzer, 30, a Shaler engineer who is between jobs, has been a community outreach volunteer since May.

"I do this for two reasons," said Wurzer, who was asked by pantry coordinator Natalie Klaum to become lead volunteer on the food pantry project. "First, I want to give back to the community and support and help other people, and second, I do it for personal growth. It's positive and rewarding to help others, and it boosts my self-confidence and self-esteem while I'm looking for work."

The new quarters are cramped, but Klaum is thankful.

"The hospital staff has been so helpful and accommodating. We won't be able to handle any kind of storage there right now, but we're happy to have the two rooms," she said, adding that the pantry is appealing to nearby organizations to donate extra space for the pantry's overflow after big food drives.

But storage isn't the most pressing problem at the moment, Pschirer noted.

"We desperately need food. There are a lot of bare shelves right now." She added that getting enough volunteers to help clients make the transition to the new site is another concern.

The community outreach program plans to place a receptacle in the hospital's lobby for food donations, and program workers are also hoping that hospital employees will think about becoming pantry volunteers.

"We've already had some calls from people who are interested in becoming volunteers," Pschirer said Friday. "And we've been getting a lot of calls from clients who want to know when it will open."

The calls, however, have been coming to the hospital. "We want the clients to call us, not the hospital, and this has been a problem," Pschirer said. "A lot of staffers, including the security guards and the information desk [workers], will know where we are. But we want to make this easy on the hospital, too."

Clients who want to reach the pantry or those who want information about volunteering may call Klaum at 412-487-6316.

The pantry's hours of operation will remain unchanged -- 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. Parking should be plentiful on Thursday evenings because regular hospital hours will have ended by the time the pantry opens. The hospital's free valet parking will be available Fridays.

Those who arrive by car will be able to shop and leave their packages at the loading dock where they can be picked up, instead of having to carry them back through the hospital and parking lot.

Pschirer warned, however, that only those with good mobility should use the loading dock. On Fridays, the loading dock is used for hospital deliveries and won't be accessible to pantry clients.

"Thursday evenings are typically our busiest time because many people work in the day," Pschirer said. "We see more senior citizens on Friday mornings."

Bricmont said that she and her friends worry about finding the pantry in the hospital's basement, but signs will be posted to point out the location. The pantry faces Roosevelt Avenue and is next to the hospital's loading dock.

"While we were there on Friday, we had six people wander in thinking we were already open, and they found us," Pschirer said. "They will find us!"