George, a resident of the new SECU Community House, spoke at the annual Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC) meeting and expressed his gratitude for the organization.
“(The staff) make me feel like I have a purpose now; it’s an amazing feeling,” George said. “There’s one thing those people over there have in common — they all have hearts. All you have to do is just walk in and open your eyes and you’ll see it.”
The meeting was held at the United Church of Chapel Hill Thursday evening, and it covered the organization’s achievements over the last fiscal year, like the completion of the permanent men’s shelter, the SECU Community House.
“I think this has been a phenomenal year, especially with the building of our new men’s shelter,” said now former Board of Directors President Mary Beth Koza.
The new SECU Community House was completed on Sept. 21 and is over 16,000 square feet. The Community House has 52 beds and 17 emergency cots and helps its residents get back on their feet with a three-stage program including educational opportunities.
“The Community House has provided 19,140 nights of safe shelter for 323 men,” said Michael Reinke, executive director of the IFC.
From 2014 to 2015, the IFC provided $394,782 of donations in food, 15,338 bags of groceries to households in need and collectively worked 42,194 volunteer hours, in addition to numerous other services and donations.
“We have provided over 85,560 hot meals at the Community Kitchen and HomeStart,” Reinke said. “HomeStart provided 14,685 nights of safe shelter to 129 women and 43 children.”
Reinke recognized the hard work the IFC staff has accomplished over this last fiscal year.
