Open Hands United Christian Ministry (Open Hands) held a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, September 8 at the new 5500 square foot building on the corner of Bledsoe Street and Newnan Road. The date also celebrated 9 years of Open Hands serving the community by providing services to those in need in the community.
After serving almost 12,000 local area residents from the 1,800 square foot building on Newnan Street since 2011, the new 5500 square foot facility will allow for a new level of services including a spacious and welcoming waiting room, personal guidance and assistance of other resources available and a shopping experience similar to a small grocery store where choices can be made in place of receiving bags of pre-packaged items. New coolers and freezers will allow for a variety of fresh and healthy food choices as well.
Jason Faircloth, the outgoing Open Hands Board Chairman led the ribbon cutting and spoke of the vision that has now been brought to fruition. Steve Davis, Pastor at First Baptist Church, led the group in a prayer, and then Sue McGukin, Director of Open Hands spoke.
Sue McGukin stated that because of the pandemic, the level of need has increased substantially.
“We’re serving people who have never before needed assistance. Lately, with all the jobs being lost from COVID, people don’t have a safety net. We’re here for them during this pandemic. But I believe we are essential all the time. There will always be hungry seniors, adults and children and it takes funding to provide that food. We could not do all we do without the support of our partner churches, volunteers, and the community.”
Daniel Jackson, President and CEO of Carroll Tomorrow and Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, then spoke of the volunteers, churches, civic organizations working together making our community a great place to live.
Open Hands is staffed completely by volunteers and supported by a number of local churches and community donations. Despite Covid-19 and the uptick in need for food and support in our community, Open Hands has continued serve with a drive through food service. All the while, they’ve been working to complete their new facility on Bledsoe Street. On this Tuesday morning, they celebrated the completion of the project.
