Beans to Bandaids, a local umbrella nonprofit, recently purchased a new building at 722 Pine St., Texarkana, Texas and is asking for help from the community to get it ready for occupancy. It will eventually house the three programs under the organization's umbrella which includes the Grace Clinic, Autism Texarkana and the Texarkana Food Pantry.
The space will also be available to other nonprofits.
"We have a lot of space we can make available. The Grace Clinic is only open two nights a week so that space could be used by another group when it's not open," said Tony Asbille, Beans to Bandaids founder and current board member. "We've already had two other groups asking for space in the building and we've had five different non-profits who've asked to hold a class. We're going to make it available to all non-profits."
Needs at the building include new air conditioners, sidewalk repairs, removing vines and bushes, replacing flooring part of the building and painting. People have already been volunteering to help but more volunteers are needed.
"The landscape is in bad shape. It's been unkempt for so long so we need help pulling bushes out and installing some new landscape. We could use anybody who would be available to clean on the inside. We had company volunteer to spray and provide termite treatment and we had someone volunteer to power wash the parking lot so we need somebody to stripe it. We certainly need some painters, someone for minor electrical work, we need a few light fixtures installed and we need financial help to purchase new air conditioners," Asbille said. "It's been a blessing to have so many people come out and want to help. It's a big project to undertake otherwise."
They hope to have the building ready by Aug. 31.
Buying the building isn't the only change Beans to Bandaids is going through. The non-profit is working on changing its name to more accurately reflect its focus of filling gaps in services in the community.
"Our charity takes on a lot of forms depending on what the community needs," Asbille said. "We don't want to duplicate services. Where there's a void, we try to fill it. What that looks like from month to month changes. We're just hoping to fill the voids and needs our community has. If it's through us great or if it's through other non-profits working in our building that's great as well."
Anyone interested in volunteering can email Asbille at [email protected].