JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville faith-based organization that gives resources to people fighting poverty is moving to a new location later this year.
The Downtown Ecumenical Services Council, also called DESC, needs a bigger space to be able to help more people, as it typically serves at least 7,000 people every year.
The new building is twice the size of where it does its work currently.
The executive director and a volunteer told News4JAX that it is a huge deal because the organization has been working out of the basement of First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville on East Monroe Street for more than 40 years.
The organization is planning to move less than a mile away to a new building on North Liberty Street, which will allow them to do things they have never been able to over the last four decades.
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Gaylon Hynes, who has volunteered with DESC two or three times a week for the last 11 years, sorts clothes in the organization’s clothing distribution center.
“Everybody needs a purpose in life,” Hynes said. “When you retire and you do not have a job anymore, it is nice to feel like you are still contributing.”
The work Hynes does and so much more is happening in the basement of First Presbyterian Church, where DESC has been operating for 42 years.
But the space is getting cramped, and the stairs that lead to its hub limit access.
Those are two main reasons Executive Director David Clark says the organization is moving to a new building on Liberty Street.
“It would be a more welcoming center for our folks first and foremost,” Clark said. “I think people will feel comfortable being able to walk in and get the services that they need. There will also be a restroom that they can access, which would be the first time that we would have that in our history.”
DESC held a ceremonial “wall breaking” ceremony on April 4 to signal that it is ready to start renovating the new space once the city approves permits.
Clark says once the new building opens for business, for the first time, the organization will have a private counseling room for people to meet with case managers, social workers and DESC staff, and a large community room for bigger outreach events.
“The goal for services is to make life easier in the here and now in an emergency situation,” Clark said. “It is a crisis-focused organization. However, if we can start to work away those crises and make things more stable, then the folks that we work with can start looking and dreaming for bigger long-term solutions.”
While DESC waits to get into that new space, it will continue operating where it always has.
The organization gives groceries, clothing, emergency financial assistance, if certain criteria are met, and case management.
Clark says the food pantry and clothing center are open to pretty much everyone. There is no income requirement for those supplies. Anyone is eligible as long as they can present their ID.
Clark says the criteria for emergency financial assistance are that a household needs to be behind on rent or utilities. Recipients must either have children in the home, be elderly, or have a disability to qualify.
They also could not have received assistance from the organization within the last 12 months.
Hynes says she is sure all of the resources offered are appreciated.
“You like to feel like you are helping them, and they seem to be appreciative,” Hynes said. “It is very fulfilling.”
Clark says once DESC gets the permits from the city, construction and renovations should take about six months to complete.
DESC has raised a little more than $2 million of a $2.9 million campaign goal for moving and renovation.
Clark says the money already generated is enough to fully fund the project. He says the rest of the money collected can help with furnishings and fixtures.
He says the goal is to be moved in and have the place ready to go by the end of 2025.
