Thanks to grant from the Fulton Rotary Club, Our House was able to buy a much needed new refrigerator.
The Rotary Club granted $1,000 to the local homeless shelter to aid in its effort to make a sustainable change in the community at the shelter's Wiley House, according to the club's President Allen Huggins.
Our House board President Rachel Salmons was "overjoyed" to receive the grant money.
"It was for a year that we've been pulling our hair out thinking, 'OK, we need this fridge,' and our old one was making it, but if it goes out, we would lose everything," Salmons said.
Our House Executive Director Misty Dothage said their last fridge had very limited space, and they would often have to turn away donated food. She said this new fridge had nearly double the space of the previous one, allowing for the storage of ample food for those coming in at night or leaving in the morning.
"(Our clients) can focus on other things in their life instead of worrying where their next meal is coming from," she said.
The Wiley House serves as an overnight shelter for adults, and the Haven House is a shelter for families. Dothage said while the Wiley House's capacity is 17 beds, they have been setting up cots to accommodate as many as 22.
"Twenty-two people a night takes a lot of food. Even when people donate sometimes we wouldn't have the space to take care of it," she said.
Huggins explained each year the Rotary Club can apply for and distribute grants from Rotary International. He said Rotary must meet certain criteria with its grants, and Our House fit the bill. The Rotary Club also donated a grant to the Fulton Public Schools Foundation, according to Huggins.
"With the mission of Rotary being 'service above self,' we felt that Our House was an organization within the community that took that to heart," Huggins said.