The clinic grew rapidly in patients as well as support from other area churches and the community. On June 22, 2008, one decade later from its opening, the ministry moved into the now modern building located on the corner of Ninth Street and Church Avenue. The new building offered a well-organized clinic, featuring examining rooms, pharmacy, private rooms for interviewing new patients, order and distribution of medications, and an organized space for the distribution of personal care items. The clinic shared the front room, which also serves as a waiting for the clinic, and a dining room for the Feeding Ministry.
The original building that first housed Ninth Street Ministries in 1998.
The original building that first housed Ninth Street Ministries in 1998.
The free clinic became a beacon of “help, hope, and love” in its community and its absence will certainly be felt by many as it offered much more than just free medical care and medicines to its patients. It has always been staffed entirely by dedicated volunteers.
Bowser, who has been volunteering since 2009, credits the clinic’s founders, Dr. Lochala, Bill and Katy Plunkett, Erma Mize, and the church for bathing the mission in prayer, as the reason for the large-scale impact the clinic has had on the local community.
Comparing it to successful projects in the mission field, Bowser said there is no need anymore. She said she feels very blessed to have fallen into her position and also explained that she knows she speaks for everyone when she says how greatly they all will miss the patients and the opportunity afforded to them through the church to provide help, hope, and love to those in need.