TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It is coming down to the wire for New Life Warehouse.
The Tampa-based nonprofit provides people and families in need with everything they need for a new home, but the charity is closing the doors to its own home in less than a month.
“If this ministry isn’t here,” said Director Stephanie Haile. “Then there’s going to be a lot of families that are going to continue to struggle.”
Haile said New Life uses its warehouse for free, but the space has since been sold.
After finding out earlier this year that New Life Warehouse would lose its space at the end of April, Haile recently announced that the nonprofit would be shutting its doors at the end of March and not serving any more clients to pack up and move out.
“We have seen a couple spaces that don’t really work for us,” said Haile of the process of finding a new home for the charity. “It would be in our budget, but not exactly what we’re looking for.”
She hopes any shutdown for New Life will be temporary, but it needs a lot of space to work, and not many places are like the current situation.
“We’re just serving so many families that we also have to have room for growth,” Haile explained. “We can’t move into a space that’s smaller than what we have now.”
This worries the agencies she partners with.
“I would say that New Life Warehouse is one of the most important nonprofits in the Tampa area,” said Luis Soria.
Soria is the office manager of Church World Service’s Tampa location. It’s an international resettlement agency that locally relies on New Life Warehouse to offset some of its furniture and housing costs.
“Without New Life Warehouse, Church World Service wouldn’t have that impact in the community it’s had this past two years,” Soria said. “It means everything for us.”
If you know of a space with at least 10,000 square feet, loading docks, and parking, you can contact New Life Warehouse here. Haile also said they will be having a fundraiser in May that will be posted to social media soon.
