The Mission of the Palmetto House is to provide assistance to those in need of basic human necessities and to help clients become self reliant members of our community. Some of the basic necessities the shelter provides include:

• A resident address and phone number, which are key ingredients for job seeking individuals.
• Shelter and Food. In 2005, we sheltered 344 individuals and served 5,338 meals. (Note: Decreases in the amount of people served from previous years because we now offer residents programs to join that allow them to stay with us for longer than 30 days in order to complete the programs.)
• 3 meals per day are served to shelter residents and other hungry individuals in need. No one is ever turned away! This meal service alone has helped many elderly community neighbors manage their tight budgets in keeping their grocery bills low.
• Food and clothing are also distributed from the Dorchester Interfaith Outreach Ministries office in the Trident United Way Building, Main Street in downtown Summerville. In 2005 we served 497 families with food and clothing.
• Adequate laundry and shower facilities
• Our current shelter has four rooms with 8 beds.

Due to our current limited facility, the shelter was forced to turn away 714 Adults and 293 Children in 2005. However the new Palmetto House Shelter is currently under construction and is 95% complete. It is located off Hwy 78, neighboring The Elks Lodge in Summerville, and construction has been a tremendous undertaking. When the new shelter is complete we will open the doors to a 42-bed facility and are extremely excited to be able to offer 42 individual rooms or 10 family. Configurations vary depending upon need.