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Nonprofit helping families experiencing homelessness has 6 months to find new facility

MORGANTON, N.C. — Burke United Christian Ministries needs to find a new location in six months after 45 years of providing food and clothing for families experiencing homelessness.

Families, including Edith Beyer and her husband who is a Vietnam War veteran, are worried.

The couple, who live out of a minivan go to Burke United Christian Ministries for meals and its food pantry.

“I am worried that the services that they have here will no longer be here if they do not find a place,” Beyer said. “These people are like my family.”

The soup kitchen provided 44,000 meals last year. The food pantry provides food for 8,000 people in the area. The organization also offers showers, washing machines, and dryers.

“We are just really devastated,” said Alice Horton, the executive director at BUCM. “We were hoping to be here a lot longer.”

Horton said last week she learned that the owner of the building, Burke Charitable Properties, decided to sell the land.

The nonprofit pays $9,400 in rent every month for the current location where it has been for 20 years.

“The main concern is, ‘What’s going to happen in the meantime?’” she said. “Because if we can’t find a spot in six months, what do we do in the in-between?”

Alesha Andrews and her daughter have also heard about the looming six-month deadline and are praying the nonprofit finds another location.

“It’s very important to me and my daughter,” Andrews said. “We come here all the time. I’m just worried they’re going to move farther off.”

The nonprofit also provides money for power, water, and rent, which helps prevent families from being evicted.


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