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On Thursday, the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Branches of Hope, the new shelter from the Troup County Homeless Coalition.

While the shelter opened in late November of last year and is approaching its first anniversary, the ribbon was cut on the launch of the shelter’s new transitional program.

“We started transitional programs, and so that allows for people to kind of get on their feet again,” said Lisa Ellison, Director of Development for Branches of Hope. “They live with us for up to six months. They pay program fees for their housing and that kind of thing. So they have to get a job and start taking responsibility for their lives.”

“It gives them a chance, and it gives them the support they need. They do weekly case management,” Ellison said.

Ellison said they help people get jobs, secure bank accounts and do what’s next in their process of getting on their feet.

“Our deal is we really want to help people get on their feet. We don’t just want to house homeless people and let them just let them stay homeless. We want to show them that there’s something better and that they can get on their feet and have a better life,” she said.

“We work with New Ventures and Goodwill to try to get them on their feet again and do the next right step. There’s a church that helps out here, and one of the church members works at Sewon, and they have tried to hire some of our folks and got them some jobs to get them on their feet. So it’s pretty exciting to see the transformation happen,” Ellison said.

Branches of Hope is a division of the Troup County Homeless Coalition. The shelter is a 501 c3 non-profit and exists primarily thanks to generous donations.

Ellison said the shelter building was purchased by the Callaway Foundation, and they lease it for a dollar per year.

The shelter accepts single men, single women and women with children. Married men are housed separately from the women due to the shelter’s policy on cohabitation.

Ellison said their capacity is 44, and they are around 38 to 44 right now.

Ellison said they are also working to create additional housing.

“We are working with the Habitat for Humanity to build 10 tiny houses. We got $2 million in grant funding to build 10 tiny houses, which we’re going to build on the New Ventures property. They’ve donated an acre and a half to help us build those, and then we’ll be able to transition people out of transitional housing into those houses, hopefully eventually get them on their feet,” she said.

For more information or to donate, visit branchesofhopega.org. Donations can also be sent to 124 Gordon Commercial Drive, LaGrange, GA.