MIDDLEBURG, Fla. — A local organization, Legacy in Action, presented a $1.125 million dollar check to Mercy Support Services Friday morning in Middleburg.
"One of our primary founding purposes is to make sure we’re giving back to communities in which we operate. We don’t want to do that in a small way, we want to do it in a way that truly has an impact,” CEO and Founding Partner of Legacy in Action, Joelle Marquis said.
The new funding allows Mercy Support Services to buy a 5.1-acre lot along College Drive. A former church building will be renovated into office space. CEO Roy Hayle said three other buildings will be next door to this, allowing up to 67 new apartments.
“It will be part of our self-sufficiency program,” Hayle said. “So people who are homeless right now, who are displaced living in their cars, we bring them into our self-sufficiency programs and over a six-month period try to get them to a place where they can help themselves independent living.”
MSS is a nonprofit program that help people in need become independent and self-sufficient. So far, it has helped more than 28,000 local people. They said 85 families have become independent.