A Christian social service agency based in Dillsburg will expand its reach this month when it opens a West Shore center.
New Hope Ministries announced Friday that its new crisis assistance facility will open at 701 Bosler Ave. in Lemoyne, according to a news release. The agency will host an open house and dedication 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 16.
With locations in Dillsburg, Dover, Hanover and Mechanicsburg, New Hope Ministries seeks to serve low-income families and individuals throughout the region.
Molly Helmstetter, director of development for the agency, said the nonprofit had been looking to open on the West Shore for several years. Its new building previously housed CURE International, she said, and New Hope will occupy about 3,000 of its 10,000 square feet. The agency is looking for tenants to occupy the remaining 7,000 square feet of office space, which is set-up to include shared office space capability, she said.
The purchase price of the building was $525,000. Helmstetter said the agency is working to secure the final $200,000 of funding for purchase and renovation of the building through a matching grant opportunity, made possible through a private funder.
“We have already received more than $220,000 in support from the community for this project,” she said.
New Hope had previously expanded its Mechanicsburg center but that center was hard for some people to reach.
“What we found over the past few years is that transportation continues to be a barrier for people to access our services that are physically located in our Mechanicsburg center,” Helmstetter said. “So, for the past few years, we’ve been working with local community leaders to determine that there would be support in order to facilitate the opening of a location that would be closer to the West Shore.”
So why Lemoyne?
“Lemoyne has one of the highest rates of poverty in our service area,” Helmstetter said, adding that the poverty rate is 15.9 percent, according to U.S. Census data. “That is the highest level of poverty in any of the municipalities in New Hope’s entire service area.”
Additionally, Helmstetter said the adjacent community of Wormleysburg has seen a 274 percent increase in poverty over the last 15 years. Lemoyne’s level has spiked 175 percent in the same time period.
In the agency’s last fiscal year, it served about 2,200 people from the West Shore, but Helmstetter expects that number to rise.
“We truly believe that because of the transportation barrier, many people who really need our services just probably weren’t able to access them,” she said.
At the West Shore center, New Hope will offer a food pantry and an array of assistance programs such as those for heating and utilities, rent and mortgage, and transportation. Budgeting classes, nutrition and cooking courses, workforce programs, job fairs and educational resources will also be available, including a new CDL Class A truck driving certification training.
Just one employee will staff the facility, as the agency is largely supported by its roughly 3,000 volunteers, Helmstetter said.
New Hope also announced it received a $50,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation to support its services, including those that will be offered in Lemoyne.
More plans to expand are in the works, as New Hope is looking to add the New Oxford area in Adams County to its footprint.
