For almost two years, the Development Team has been looking for ways to use our places and spaces as an asset to our community. We have come up with three projects, which you will find below. We ask that you continue to pray our breakthrough prayer with us. "Powerful God, deeply and gently break through our lives. We are ready to be used by you to do more than we could ever imagine."
If you have any questions about these projects, please fill out the form at the very bottom.
Our first project involves updating existing, unused church space to be used as office rental space for the community. We plan to open up and renovate vacant space in the Herman Building, previously an education wing, and offer it to the community as office rental space. We are fortunate to have Families First, a local non-profit that serves children and families, ready to commit to a long-term re
The youth ministry will move to the large rooms at the end of the building, and the renovations give thema fresh new space to thrive. The renovation budget is estimated to be $76,000, over half of which will be new HVAC, and the remainder covers a variety of cosmetic upgrades. We have internal funding groups, the Legacy Endowment and the Thigpen Trust that we have approached for support. Profitab
This project connects to our church vision statement by “Being committed to reaching the children, youth, and young adults in our community.” “Supporting and enabling existing local ministries.”
Our Second Transformative project is a commissary kitchen. The kitchen is where local food service operators can prepare and store food. Types of businesses that would use the kitchen include Food Trucks, Food carts, caterers, bakeries, and food banks. Due to the large increase in number of food trucks in our area, 270% since 2020 and only two commisary kitchens in Rowan County, we will focus on c
Our kitchen will be able to offer food prep and storage with minimal changes to our current kitchen. The one item that will separate us from the other commissary kitchens is that we can provide them with parking and electrical hook-up, so they do not have to load and unload for each event.
We believe this project will touch the lives of business owners, providing them with an affordable means to operate, while also introducing the operators to MHUMC and its mission.
Teachers are looking for jobs outside Rowan County because we are too expensive for them to live on a beginning teacher’s salary. Rowan Salisbury Schools are losing brilliant and well-qualified teachers because of the lack of affordable housing in our city and county. Currently a 950 sqft apartment is $1,271 a month, which is 40% of the monthly income of a new teacher. This is why we would like to
This is a proof of concept drawing, and it shows we can possibly build 35 units at roughly 1,300 sqft or 2-3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouses on our property. Therefore, it is possible to create something where teachers can live affordably, starting to save for their own house, and building community with fellow teaching professionals on our campus.
We believe this project will touch the lives of business owners, providing them with an affordable means to operate, while also introducing the operators to MHUMC and its mission.
As we have talked to some of our community assets, we have heard other suggestions on how to increase the sense of community in this Teacher Village, such as adding childcare within the plan and having furnished units for international teachers who move to Salisbury with just two suitcases. Plus, we could offer community building events or lesson plan incubator days, and other community building g
If we are able to create such a space, we would definitely be living into our vision statement even more by truly creating space for people to belong, building authentic relationships and reflecting our diverse community which is all around us.