Michigan—A ground breaking ceremony for the new Adventist Community Services Center (ACSC) of the Ithaca Seventh-day Adventist Church was held May 3. The new building at 939 North Pine River will replace the present center on South St. Johns Street, which was built in 1961. The work of community services has expanded beyond the capabilities of the old facility. The new center will have a bigger work space, larger area for client choices, and more receiving and shipping rooms. A grant for shelving for the new building was awarded by the Gratiot County Community Foundation.

Clothing is processed and given to those in need locally, and the excess is shipped to overseas disaster areas. New quilts are made for those experiencing crisis situations, and layettes containing new items are furnished for use at the hospital. Last year 300 families were helped and more than 1,000 boxes of excess clothing were shipped. Weekly volunteers put in a total of 1,400 hours in 2006.

Ken Micheff, local pastor; Virginia Pfeifle, ACSC director; Beth Stephan, ACSC treasurer; and other volunteers were present for the ground breaking ceremony. Diana Bruch, Michigan Conference Adventist Community Services director, and Leroy Bruch, Michigan Conference treasurer, also attended.

Beth Stephan, Gratiot County Community Service Center treasurer