Open Hearts Community Mission celebrated the opening of its new family wing with a community dedication filled with words about faith and family, gratitude and hope, followed by open-house tours, Thursday afternoon, Sept. 24.

More than 50 people, many of them Open Hearts donors and volunteers, gathered out front of the building, some filling rows of chairs and others standing. The ceremony was blessed with lightly overcast skies and 2026’s first real taste of autumn, temperatures hovering in the upper 60s at an hour when they would have reached the 90s on many recent afternoons.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Delia Mobley, Open Hearts’ executive director. “Many of you have been with us since the beginning when we starting working on the original building, which we opened in 2017. We began that campaign for the building in 2013.”

That original building, which lettering on the front identifies as the Delia Mobley Center, contains dormitory housing in two sections, with 12 beds each, plus two family rooms. With that, the mission could accommodate up to 34 otherwise temporarily homeless people at a time. The mission has served approximately 1,100 people, counting both short-term and long-term stays, since it opened nine years ago, Mobley said.

The new wing, which includes three family suites, somewhat like hotel rooms but with homelike décor, could accommodate 12 more people, and so pushes the theoretical capacity of the whole facility to about 46 individuals. But the actual capacity at any time depends on considerations such as privacy, family size and keeping family groups together.

Baby on the way

For example, although new Suites 1 and 3 are each equipped two bunk beds for a total of four mattresses per suite, Suite 2 for the time being has only one two-deck bunkbed, across from a bassinette.

“This week we have a new baby that will be moving in,” Mobley had said in her remarks. “He was born Tuesday… . His mom is doing well. She is a resident here, and they will be coming home in a few days and be living in one of the new rooms.”

Mission supporters had reportedly stepped up with more homey and baby-specific donations when they heard the resident was having her baby sooner than expected.

“We were like, Oh my goodness! We’re having a baby and we’re having a grand opening too!” Mobley elaborated. “So, in the past three weeks we’ve had two newborns and eight move-outs and a building that’s been finished and a grand opening. …”

“I appreciate the support that this community gives us every day,” she said.

Built on donations

Monetary amounts weren’t mentioned during the dedicatory program. But some Open Hearts board members who were asked estimated that the new wing required about $300,000, combined of cash donations and in-kind contributions, to complete. That brings the value of the total given for the physical facility since its beginning to around $1 million, both cash and in-kind, they said.

Speaking during the ceremony, the Rev. Dorsia A. Atkinson Jr., a member of the Open Hearts board since the beginning and now its chairman, emphasized three things about the project: It was need-driven, furthers the mission’s “mission,” and reflects a community effort.

Planning for the original building back in 2013-2016 addressed the need as seen at that time, but needs change, he said.

“This was strategically placed here in the middle of the city for a purpose,” Atkinson said. “And so … we saw the need for women and men, and we had two family rooms. We did not know that the world would get to the point where there would be that many children who would be involved in homelessness.”

Meeting that need, the organization stays true to its mission of “providing more than just a room,” he said. “Wanting to help people rebuild their lives to become functioning citizens again,” Open Hearts seeks to provide “a Christ-centered environment,” which mission supporters believe leads to “a better future in this world.”

“We’re expanding our community’s ability to keep families together while they rebuild their lives….,” Atkinson said. “The community is what made this possible.”

Stories of hope

Several former residents who have moved on to new phases of their lives took part in the ceremony. Shatina Palmer gave the opening prayer, asking God’s continued blessings on the mission and expressing thanks for Open Hearts and the new building. Interviewed afterwards, she described the pivotal role the mission had in her life.

“I had four kids and we stayed here, we came in July of 2023 and moved out in November of 2023, moved out on another program for three years, and just this year we finally got a house that we live in. I was going through paramedic school when I lived here,” said Palmer, who’s now working as a paramedic. “So they’re awesome, teach you how to budget, teach you how to live like you need to live.”

Her husband, she said, had also been there on the men’s side at the time.

The closing prayer was read aloud by Kayden, 10, who attended with his mother, Bridget Martin.

“Thank you for this mission and for everyone who helped build these new rooms,” Kayden began. “Please bless every mom, dad and child who comes through these doors. …”

Bridget Martin came to the mission with her children in 2021. They moved out on June 1, 2022.

“I came right after I had my second child, and it really changed my whole life because before the mission, I was alone, homeless, single-parent, and they just helped build me up, like this was a great foundation for my life to get where it is today,” she said in an interview.

She is now a stay-at-home mom with four children, in the family’s home with the children’s father and stepfather, who works at Great Dane.

Another former resident, Joshua Graham, shared his testimonial directly with the ceremony audience.

“I want to give a big shout out to Ms. Delia for opening her arms to me, not looking at me any other way than as a human being. …,” he began, and went on to thank others who work there, such as “Ms. Dale” Gibson, who teaches finance and budgeting skills.

“It’s only by the grace of God that I’m still here able to talk to each and every one of y’all and show you what change is like. Thank y’all,” Graham concluded.

He arrived at the mission after first being transferred from the Bulloch County Jail to nearby John’s Place in November 2023. He has been clean and sober from drugs and alcohol since July 8, 2024, but needed a place to stay when he left rehab and found a space at Open Hearts with help from his aunt, he said.

“They don’t look at the homeless man as what that says,” he said in an interview. “They look at the homeless man as, hey, you’ve got a chance, and this place is a miracle. It has absolutely changed my life. … I’m two years clean and serene off drugs and alcohol, and it’s only by the Grace of God, Ms. Delia and everybody here, and I’m just thankful and very grateful.”

He has been living in his own home since June 2025 and has steady work in his skilled trade, as a diesel mechanic.

Special recognitions

A plaque was unveiled recognizing 14 companies, individuals and couples as “special donors” to the family wing expansion.

Mobley had first thanked Ashley Ellis for applying her expertise in decorating as a volunteer and donor to the project.

A little later, Ellis was called forward to speak.

“It was my honor and pleasure to be able to decorate the three new suites,” she said. “Working alongside Delia and Brenda (Lee, the mission’s director of operations) is always a blessing.”

Ellis grew up in a home where she was “taught to give back” and had “a great example,” in her mother, Sarah Hines, and in her mother’s mother, she said, adding that she hopes she has in turn set a good example for her two sons.

“As a single mom, we were incredibly blessed that my mother was always there, always supportive and always there to cheer us on, encourage us or humble us if needed. She was an amazing example of one that always did the right thing and always was there,” Ellis said. “So, on behalf our family, it is our honor to announce that the third family suite … will be forever named in honor of my mother, Sarah Youngblood Hines.”

A plaque was already mounted next to the door of the suite in the hallway of the new wing.

Additionally, the Leadership Bulloch Class of 2027, the program of mainly young professionals hosted by the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce, announced that their class project will be to erect a privacy fence and install a playground behind it for children staying at the mission.