By Delayna Earley
The Island News
After nearly three years of construction, HELP of Beaufort finally has a permanent home.
The doors to their new facility will open on Monday, Aug. 18, when they officially open for business in the building.
Executive Director Lori Opozda said in an interview with The Island News on Monday evening that they would be having a private ribbon cutting on Friday at the building to say thank you to all of the volunteers and donors who helped to make the organization’s dream building a reality.
The building was a community partnership build, meaning that labor and fiances that contributed building the structure were donated from members of the community.
“It’s taken so long because we were looking to do a community build with everybody,” Opozda said. “You know, we look for plumbers, electricians, sheet rock people, painters, wood suppliers, roof suppliers, you know, things like that that you know people would like to work with us to either donate materials or donate time or give us a discount.”
The 4,500-square-foot structure features a large warehouse space with room for volunteers to sort clothing and food donations. The facility also features a large walk-in-freezer and refrigerator that will allow them to take in more perishable products that they cannot currently accommodate.
In the public side of the building, there is an area for clients to do their shopping. It is divided between pantry goods and clothing and household goods.
Opozda said that they didn’t want to make the building look like a warehouse but instead make it an inviting place for people to come and get what they need and feel welcome.
The organization offers food, clothes and services for all South Carolinians, but sometimes it is hard for someone to come into the facility and admit they need help.
“It doesn’t take much, just a week or two of being out of work, to get behind on bills,” Opozda said.
With the inflation and prices soaring in recent years, Opozda said that the group seeking support that she has seen grow the most is that of working families.
She wanted to create comfortable place for people to come and get the help they need, when necessary, without shame.
“We do follow the USDA guidelines for USDA allotted food, but that’s like a separate program,” Opozda said. “For our own personal guidelines, we don’t really go by any time of income qualifiers. So, you can get somebody that makes $80,000 a year, but if they are out of work for a month or two or fell behind, then it can get hard very fast.”
The building also provides office space for employees of HELP of Beaufort.
Opozda said that opening the building to the public is just the first step. She hopes to turn the vacant lot adjacent to the building into an area where they grow produce and teach people how to garden, no matter where they live.
“That part of the project is going to have raised garden beds, and we’re going to have trellises so that we can grow just a lot of different fruits and vegetables,” Opozda said. “We’ll be able to have produce for our clients, but we’re also going to open it up to have some cooking classes through the Lowcountry Food Bank and gardening classes.”
HELP of Beaufort is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at their new building on Ribaut Road in Port Royal.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
