The Salvation Army is getting new digs.
Following nearly a year of talks among Lts. Jamaal and Tami Ellis of the Army, Angela Curry of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation (EDF) and Emily Roush-Elliott of Delta Design-Build, plans are moving forward to relocate the organization’s headquarters and retail store from U.S. 82 to EDF-owned property on Mississippi 7.
The Salvation Army’s retail store, office space and a community gathering place, as well as outdoor loading and drop-off areas, will occupy the building that formerly housed Sleepy Steve’s, in the same complex as the Mississippi Department of Human Services offices for Leflore County.
Roush-Elliott’s company has provided preliminary designs that are now being matched to a budget to see what might be added or eliminated.
“This is our favorite kind of project,” Roush-Elliott said, “working with someone who is invested in and working on the needs of the community.”
Ellis said his staff and Salvation Army volunteers are excited about the move, which they hope will be completed before they enter their busy Christmas season.
Roush-Elliott said she is finalizing pricing with subcontractors in hopes of getting the work in before Thanksgiving, when the charitable organization’s multiple holiday projects will kick off.
“We are very excited,” Ellis said. “Angela Curry approached me some time ago, and the Economic Development Foundation was thrilled to have the Salvation Army as a tenant for the building.”
The location, next to the Department of Human Services and near Life Help and other agencies, will be beneficial and convenient to some of the Salvation Army’s clients with the greatest needs, Ellis said.
The move will also save the organization a little money in the long run, and Ellis hopes he will be able to use those funds to hire a couple of new staff members.
“I think it’s an all-around good situation,” Ellis said. “My folks here at our store are excited and ready to move over. Summers and winters are kind of brutal here with not very good central heat and air conditioning. It’s hard on my volunteers and staff.”
Roush-Elliott said the new space will be significantly larger than the current location. “The retail space is a little bigger and will be organized by department, but instead of having the boutique off to the left, the way it is now, we’re going to do accent walls in the departments for display.”
Roush-Elliott also hopes to incorporate the bold graphics of the Salvation Army into aspects of the building, including an outer wall sign that says “HOPE,” with the O in the form of the Salvation Army shield.
“We’re also working on streamlining through design, working on them with their sorting process, to make their volunteers’ lives easier,” she said.
Roush-Elliott said the Ellises are great clients who “ask me lots of questions and give me a lot of good feedback.”
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
