MOI to begin remodel of facility

If everything goes as planned the clients and staff at Malta Opportunity Inc. (MOI) will see the start of the refurbishment of their current building in early May in Malta.

The clients and staff at MOI will be packing up shop and moving to the empty building east of Ezzie's Whole Sale on Highway 2 while the refurbishment takes place and will work there from April through November while construction is complete, according to MOI Executive Director Dina Sainato-Meneely. She said the process to get the building refurbished has taken three years and included planning, obtaining grant money, and architectural drawings.

"It will take about 150 days to complete," Sainato-Meneely said, "and all $600,000 of the CDGB (Community Development Block Grant) has come in for the project."

Sainato-Meneely said that once the project is complete, the MOI thrift shop will double from its current size which will allow the staff more floor space to appropriately display items for sale in a more coherent manner. She said donations to the thrift store, which currently take place in the front of the building and tend to pile up, will soon be accepted in the back of the structure.

"That will also free up a lot of our parking in the front," Sainato-Meneely added.

Starting this Friday, March 15, MOI will still be accepting donations, but clothing, sheets, blankets, etc. (MOI will also continue to make and sell workshop rags) through the end of April. Once the MOI crew is moved to the Highway 2 location, Sainato-Meneely said she hopes to be able to accept all the regular types of donations again.

"We just want to try and get rid of stuff while not accumulating a bunch of new stuff," she said. "So, through April, we will have a bag sale where you can fill a bag with whatever you want for $3."

Sainato-Meneely said that once MOI is ready to move, they will also hold a liquidation sale on items throughout the building.

"Everything and the kitchen sink will be for sale," she said.

As for the MOI laundry mat, Sainato-Meneely said that she hopes to keep the facility open during the construction which will also be renovated. She said that the size of the laundry mat will be about half of what it currently is.

"Our intent is to have that open as much as possible," Sainato-Meneely said, "but it will scale down considerably and we will continue to update the machines as we go. For now, the laundry mat will have the best working machines we currently have."

When the MOI laundry mat is closed because of construction, Sainato-Meneely said that MOI will continue to offer laundry washing and folding services (as well as their commercial laundry.)

"If you still need your laundry done and the laundry mat isn't open, hopefully, our commercial laundry is open," she said. "We will wash it, dry, and fold it and you can pick it up later."