East Cobb Churches Help MUST

In a generous act of community giving a group of churches in Cobb County banded together to build a new Daily Outreach Center for the homeless campus at on Highway 41.

MUST has four program campuses, but the Elizabeth Inn campus is perhaps one of the most visible and is the only one focusing on homelessness. The Coalition of Christian Churches built the new building to better serve those who live in their cars, in the woods and other places.

The Daily Outreach Center offers a large clothes closet, daily breads and sweets, bathrooms, showers, social services, phones, mail and computer use. Formerly crowded into a much smaller space, a group of churches sought to make conditions better, so they joined forced to design and build a $105,000 building. They even raised the money to pay for it.

The churches participating are the , , , the  and , all of East Cobb, and Kennesaw United Methodist Church.

With a dedication ceremony slated for Sunday at 2 p.m. at 55 Elizabeth Church Road, the new center will begin serving the 145 people who come to the campus for daily services. The community is invited to join in the dedication.

“We began 18 months ago and now the building is complete. It’s been such a blessing to work together with other community members to create a new space that will benefit so many people in need,“ said Carol Bowser, who coordinated the large undertaking with Fred Massey. “The volunteers have worked countless hours as a team, accomplished much and made new friends. It’s been a tremendous success on every level.”

“These churches have shown the clients that they are loved,” said Michael Laird, Director of the Elizabeth Inn campus. “They’ve given us space to improve and enhance all of our services and we are so grateful.”

He explained that the homeless campus serves 685 daily clients, 6,000 meals in the Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen and provides 2,040 bed nights in the shelter in one month.

“We show our neighbors that they are cared for through active service to the utmost of our abilities,” he said. “We can profoundly change the lives of those we serve.”