The Elizabeth Inn Shelter at MUST Ministries is the newly selected charity to receive expert help from volunteer professionals in the building field. Thanks to the generosity of HomeAid Atlanta, who works in partnership with the building industry, qualified volunteers will tackle numerous projects on the campus next month, providing a significant gift to the non-profit.
HomeAid will partner with Community Associations Institute of Georgia (CAI) to complete the work at MUST.
-�To have professionals come to MUST and offer their services and supplies is a tremendous blessing,-� said Dr. Ike Reighard, President and CEO of MUST. -�HomeAid Atlanta will complete many projects that need to be done to improve the homeless campus and they will do them well. What a blessing to our clients.-�
Last year alone, the Elizabeth Inn campus housed 874 people in the shelter and provided 85,974 meals in the Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen. In addition, the cold weather shelter, the warming center, employment services and outreach to the homeless are located on this campus, one of 13 locations operated by MUST that serve 30,000 people a year.
-�We hear quite a bit about MUST Ministries,-� said Jean Hilyard, Director of Engagement at HomeAid Atlanta. -�They have a good reputation and we wanted to connect,-� she said. -�We have the same goals -" to help the homeless -" so we will be on their campus May 12 and 19 for our Care Day effort.-�
The group will be doing pressure washing and other prep work first, followed by building a 12-™ custom shelving unit for the Employment Services Classroom on the homeless campus. Also on the task list are painting, a handicapped ramp rebuild, sprucing up decks and ramps on every building and a bathroom upgrade. CAI and partners are also installing a large, interactive children-™s artwork areaon the concrete near the children-™s playground.
One of the biggest tasks is fixing the large parking lot pavement. From painting doors to replacing old facia boards, the team will tackle an extensive -�To Do List-�. About 580 CAI of Georgia volunteers are expected to help and will also serve lunch at the Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen on campus.
-�It-™s quite an undertaking, but it-™s so nice to work with an outreach like MUST that serves so many types of people,-� Hilyard said. MUST helps about 30,000 people a year and 80 percent of them are women and children. Most of the clients live in Cherokee and Cobb.
HomeAid, organized in 2001, works in partnership with the building industry, as well as community building organizations, to assist people experiencing homelessness, so it-™s a perfect fit with MUST Ministries, Dr. Reighard said. -�We are so grateful.-�
Hilyard explained it this way, -�We want to help people who help so many. And MUST does that well.-�