Couple offering hope to those in need
By Rodger Mullen
Staff writer
Gil Jacobs admits the house on Ellison Street doesn't look like much.
"You might see this as a beat-up old building," Jacobs said. "You should have seen it before."
For the past several months, Jacobs, his fiance, Robin Candido, and an army of volunteers have been hard at work transforming the old duplex across from the Hope Mills YMCA into a place of hope for the town's needy.
They're calling it Hope House, and they see it as a place where the hungry can get a hot meal and the down-on-their-luck can pick up some clothing and maybe even get a haircut.
"We're just kind of letting the Holy Spirit take over and just go with it," Candido said.
The project had its origins early in the year, when Jacobs and Candido volunteered to help serve Love Lunches at the nearby Alms House.
The Patterson Street house is small, so meals are served from the front porch and eaten in a shelter outside. On the day Jacobs and Candido volunteered, there was an ice storm and the food was not delivered, they said.
"We started talking and said, this is something, to get food in Hope Mills you have to stand out in the rain and cold," Jacobs said. "We thought, wouldn't it be great if we could provide a place inside?"
That same day, Jacobs was driving around and saw a duplex around the corner on Ellison Street for sale.
Jacobs, who is a general manager at Sears, and Candido, a realtor with ReMax, saw potential in the rundown house. They made an offer, and purchased the 1,600-square foot duplex for about $26,000.
They had their work cut out for them.
"I said, you want to buy this place? You're crazy," Candido said. "A couple of the rooms didn't even have floors. You could literally see the crawl space."
The couple, who both attend Good Shepherd Catholic Church, put out a call for volunteers and donations of materials. They were overwhelmed at the response.
One company donated all the plumbing fixtures needed to bring the house up to code. Another installed ceiling fans and lighting.
A church donated a refrigerator. When the couple put out the word that they needed 40 folding chairs, they got more than 100.
Jacobs, who admits he's no carpenter, did much of the work himself, including helping remove the wall separating the two halves of the duplex. The result may not be high-end professional-quality, but Jacobs said he'd rather spend money on food and clothing for people who need it than on fancy furnishings.
The house has already begun serving hot meals on Sundays. Several churches and other organizations have stepped forward with offers of food donations and volunteer labor.
Eventually, Jacobs and Candido would like to see meals served every day at the Hope House. They want to use the building as a food and clothing bank, and maybe even convince a barber to donate his services.
They envision the Hope House as a place where any church, business, club or individual can focus their charitable energies.
"This is not our effort," Candido said. "It's a big, big team effort."
For information on how to help, call Candido at 670-7700 or e-mail her at robincandido@hotmail.com.
Staff writer Rodger Mullen can be reached at mullenr@fayobserver.com or 486-3561.