SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — The Boys and Girls Home and Family Services of Sioux City made moves to bring their vision of a single campus one step closer to reality with the non-profit’s Stuff store moving to a new location.

In September of 2021, Boys and Girls Home unveiled a plan to have its offices, schools, and housing all in one place on the Indian Hills campus. Monday, the Stuff store moved across the parking lot to help make way for a new children’s living area at the store’s old location.

The living area is a priority for Boys and Girls Home, providing housing for the more than 30 young people currently cared for by the agency at its old campus inside the former Saint Joes Hospital is the final step in developing a new campus. Now, thanks to community support, work can begin.

“The reason behind the kids and the community means so much to me, means so much to our staff and really that’s what it’s all about,” said Terri Horsley, the Stuff Store manager. I think that’s why we get great donations. They come in here and ‘we like to think we’re helping our future community’ and that’s exactly what they’re doing. “

Horsley also told KCAU 9 what went into making the move.

“It took a lot of planning, a lot of decision making on where to place things and to utilize the space to the best we could. It was important to make somebody when they walk in, say ‘this is not a thrift store, this is a regular, beautiful store,'” Horsley said.

The development of a new single site for the Boys and Girls Home campus has been in the works since the purchase of the old Indian Hills shopping center in September of 2021. The aim of the upgrade is to better help families with professional counseling, children’s housing, and schooling all in one place, Terri Dooley with the Boys and Girls Home and Family Services said.

“The kids and the families that we care for, that’s what every employee that works at Boys and Girls Home and Families Services thinks about that every day when they come to work. It’s really important for us to be able to give our children and families the highest quality care and that’s all part of coming to this campus,” Dooley said.

Workers hope to begin demolition of the old strip mall property as soon as possible with children moved by the beginning of 2024.

The Stuff store is always looking for high-quality donations to help fund the Boys and Girls Home mission.