If you’re hungry or homeless or both in Macon County, you can now find help under one roof. Beginning this week CareNet is now housing the Macon New Beginnings program.
Macon New Beginnings has moved their administrative operations to the CareNet office on Bidwell Street. In addition to sharing an address, the two organizations will also be working together to coordinate the needs of their clientele. This way, Macon County residents who are both food insecure and housing insecure – traits that frequently coincide – will get help in a faster and more efficient manner.
Macon New Beginnings president Bob Bourke says that the transition is the result of answers to prayers. The homelessness relief effort has operated through a mail-only address for years and even their congregate meals at Memorial Park lost a meeting space last year when the Town of Franklin started repairs on the community building. Bourke expects that providing service to clients will be much more efficient at the new location and that they may be able to expand services eventually because of the partnership, but for now, the people who depend on them can expect a seamless transition.
“For the immediate future, no changes to client programs and services will happen,” Bourke said. “We will be exploring more options as time progresses.”
CareNet executive director Tim Hogsed says that the idea to bring more services to his organization’s office has been brewing since last summer. CareNet has plenty of space for more operations and Hogsed says that other worthy causes could make good use of the room.
Once renovations are complete and Macon New Beginnings is settled in, more charitable ventures may start working at the Bidwell Street building.
“We have a fairly large space,” Hogsed said. “We want to utilize that space to help as many people as possible.”
CareNet and Macon New Beginnings are located at 130 Bidwell Street. For more information on services provided by the two organizations, call CareNet at 828-369-2642 or call Macon New Beginnings at 828-202-3103.