Megiddo Dream Station, which teaches unemployed men and women how to become better job candidates, is expanding the scope of its influence and mission.
The Graniteville-based organization is setting up a new campus in North Augusta, and it also has begun coordinating a major effort to recruit and place volunteers - some of whom will be assisting other organizations - after receiving a big grant.
"This is awesome," said Megiddo Executive Director Kay Benitez on Wednesday about the recent developments.
The Megiddo Dream Station's North Augusta campus will be at Second Providence Baptist Church at 1202 Old Edgefield Road.
"We will be offering our complete core Work for Success Program there," said Benitez, whose organization is teaming with the Community Ministry of North Augusta to establish the campus.
The first series of classes will begin June 8.
"It has been amazing how quickly it has all come together," Benitez said. "It's because the community wants us so bad. They have volunteers to run the program, but they need more businesses for the students to visit, and they need people to come in and speak to the students."
Eventually, Megiddo plans to offer specialty classes in a variety of job skills at the North Augusta campus.
"We already know that there is a need there for our class for caregivers and our salesmanship class, so those probably will be the first ones," Benitez said.
A Retired Senior Volunteer Program grant from the Senior Corps is funding the volunteer recruitment and placement initiative. The Senior Corps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which is a federal agency.
"As long as we do a good job, we will get $80,000 a year for three years," Benitez said. "Our goal is to have 300 volunteers at the end of three years."
Megiddo is seeking volunteers who are 55 and older.
"We want people with special skills to volunteer in an area where their expertise matters," Benitez said. "The focus will be economic improvement services such as job training, adult education, tutoring, mentoring and helping people find affordable housing."
The volunteers will donate their time to Megiddo and additional organizations in Aiken, Barnwell and Edgefield counties.
An information session for volunteers will be held Friday from 10 a.m. to noon in the VIP Room at USC Aiken's Convocation Center at 375 Robert M. Bell Parkway.
For more information, call Megiddo at 803-392-7044 or visit www.mdssc.org.
Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since January 2013. A native of Concord, N.C., she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.