The Greater Centralia Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting on Friday commemorating Helping Hands’ move to a new location at 1600 South Hickory Street.
The organization has built 93 wheelchair ramps in the community over the past three years, in addition to helping citizens with minor home repairs and providing small grants for people experiencing difficulties. Rob Schnicker, the board president for Helping Hands/Mission Centralia, says being able to purchase the building on South Hickory is a big plus for the organization.
“The most important thing, probably, is stability. We know it is going to be ours because we were able to purchase it. We don’t have to worry about having to move, and just having that consistent place where we can build and we can keep our stuff is just a godsend.”
Chamber President Marcus Holland told those attending the ribbon cutting that Helping Hands exemplifies what a non-profit organization should be.
According to Schnicker, the community’s support over the past few years has been tremendous.
“It’s overwhelming to me how much support we have in the community, in Centralia and the surrounding communities. It’s just abolsutley amazing. … Not once have we had to wait to do somebody’s project because we didn’t have the volunteers or we didn’t have the funding to buy the material to do it with. For an organization that’s strictly volunteers and 100 percent donor-funded, that’s amazing, and it is only through the support of the community that we’ve been able to do that.”
Prior to purchasing the location on South Hickory, Helping Hands was headquartered at City Hope Church in the old Centralia High School, then at the former Irving School building on South Pine Street.
