When you drive through the Rebuilding Hope campus on April 26 to pick up plates of that delicious barbecued chicken, sides and dessert, you’ll get a pretty good view of the property, which for so many years was the site of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
If you choose to park and eat in, Rebuilding Hope founder and director Randolph Wilson said you probably won’t recognize the interior as a place where those iconic green glass bottles were cleaned, filled and capped, but he gives a tip of the hat to the facility that has served its new owners so well over the past seven or eight years.
The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wilson invites the public to stop by and pick up plates; no advance ticket is necessary, but feel free to call 252.438.5132 to reserve plates. Orders of five or more plates can be delivered, he said.
“Just drive up or drive in,” Wilson said. “We’ll sell until we run out.”
At a recent gathering to celebrate the facility, located at 414 Raleigh Rd., and its new lease on life as home to Rebuilding Hope, Wilson said the president of the former owner, Durham Coca-Cola, came to see how the facility had changed.
“He was pretty much blown away,” Wilson said. “There’s not another building in this town that fits this ministry like a glove” the way the former Coke plant does.
The room that once housed the bottling equipment has been transformed into meeting space, complete with projector and sound capability.
The warehouse that used to store pallets of Coca-Cola products ready for distribution now has different areas for plumbing and electrical supplies, tools and hardware.
Trucks can drive through and get loaded with lumber. And there’s a walk-in freezer and walk-in cooler convenient to the loading dock, so deliveries of surplus food items in need of temporary storage can be easily rolled off trucks and into the coolers.
And the garage area behind the main building now is a tool shop and a storage area for shingles and other supplies for the various projects that Rebuilding Hope undertakes.
The summer Servants on Site program uses a lot of those shingles to repair and replace roofs for residents in the area, Wilson said. This year, SOS participants will gather June 24-28 to work and enjoy fellowship with others while doing God’s work in the community.
This year’s deadline to register is May 1, Wilson said. Visit https://rebuildinghopeinc.org/ to sign up your youth group.
The SOS program is an opportunity for youth groups to find out what’s going “in our own Jerusalem.”
Local youth groups are signed up so far, and another group from the western part of the state. There’s room for more, Wilson said.
“(SOS) touches their life in a way they didn’t expect,” Wilson said. “It’s amazing to hear the young people talk about what it means” to participate in the weeklong event.
At a recent meeting in Elkin, he said he heard from the dad of a previous SOS participant, who reported that the experience had been life-changing.
“We also accept volunteers year ‘round to help with projects in the community,” Wilson said. Their teams build more than 100 wheelchair ramps in any given year to allow residents easier access in and out of their homes.
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