Harvest Center unveils new home on Freedom Drive

The Harvest Center of Charlotte opened its new headquarters Wednesday, a site at 2225 Freedom Drive that will allow the organization to double the number of people it supports through meals, outreach and transitional housing.

Currently, 800 people a week get breakfast and lunch through the Harvest Center. The new site offers an expanded, commercial-grade kitchen, which means the center can add dinner meal service for needy families and adults.

Agency officials say a campaign raised $660,000 to fund the move, including $56,000 from Piedmont Natural Gas and its foundation, officials said.

Mount Carmel Baptist Church provided a temporary home for the agency while the center was being completed, said Colin Pinkney, executive director of The Harvest Center of Charlotte.

“Our plan is to make The Harvest Center the premier faith-based organization serving the homeless, poor and unemployed in Charlotte,” he said in a statement. “And we look forward to transforming more lives through our programs and services.”

Along with the hot meals served on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, The Harvest Center of Charlotte provides adult continuing education and life skills classes, job skills and job placement assistance and spiritual mentoring. The nonprofit also has a 12-month Transformation Program. It is one of about a dozen socially minded organizations to be housed in the renovated facility on Freedom Drive.

“The Harvest Center provides a critical resource to our community, and Piedmont Natural Gas is proud to support their mission,” said Timothy Greenhouse, managing director of community relations at Piedmont Natural Gas, and the president and chairman of the Piedmont Natural Gas Foundation.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 9:15 AM with the headline "Harvest Center unveils new home on Freedom Drive."