Lifting lives and helping families is the mission of a local ministry that is receiving outside as well as local help this week.

Renovations are set to be underway Tuesday through Thursday at the Lifting Lives Family Shelter, located at the intersection of U.S. 80 and Mississippi 27.

“Obviously it’s a need in the city and that’s what we’re doing,” Lifting Lives Ministries board member Ron Green said.

An Illinois group will come to Vicksburg and work alongside local volunteers to make renovations to the building. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. will also be onsite at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

“The mayor is trying to do more to make sure that there are plans in place to help the people of Vicksburg,” executive director Joel Dimmette said.

He said other volunteers and contractors will finish the project the following week and a manager will be onsite at the shelter to help secure the place and prevent vandalism, in addition to other security measures.

“We are going to get everything done except the installment of heating and air conditioners, which we can install very easily as we add families to the shelter, but that’s our goal,” Dimmette said.

The group from Illinois recently discovered the Vicksburg organization and believed in the mission enough to make a $35,000 donation. That money along with original donor funding will provide for the mess hall, office building, group bible study room and all living spaces.

“We can get those approved by the city and then be in the position to house about 20 or 21 families,” Dimmette said. “A maximum occupancy of a little over 100 people.”

The organization has worked to renovate the old motel building into a family shelter for three years. Previously the ministry’s board had chosen not to make any repairs to the vandalized building until 100 percent of the funding had been obtained.

However, the flooding of the Mississippi River in January left families who evacuated their homes without a place to go, and opening the shelter as soon as possible has become a top priority because of the need to house people.

“The flood in Vicksburg really prompted the mayor and others to realize that family homelessness is a major issue,” Dimmette said. “They had known it beforehand, but there were so many people that called and checked in on us and realized we had far less help than they realized we were receiving.”

With another flood predicted before the end of the spring, the board, donors and city came together and made a decision to push the renovations into full gear, and together have allowed the ministry to renovate the building while holding off on the implantation of an industrial kitchen, which was a major required piece of the financial pull holding the renovation back.

“It would be better to have the facility done where families can stay and bring in the kitchen a little later,” Dimmette said was the agreement of the board, donors and city.

He said the ministry is still in need of donations to keep the shelter operating daily. For more information, call 601-529-6140 or email info@liftinglivesministries.com.