SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Old Savannah City Mission has a brand-new look after undergoing renovations that totaled a million dollars.

The shelter tells News 3 that this has been in the works for two years now. Last Saturday, the shelter held a celebration to shed light on this achieved milestone.

They have a new dining hall, kitchen, and administrative offices. The program director, Jermaine Ray, said the renovations were long overdue.

“We were serving around 60 to 70 individuals per meal last year and the year before,” Ray said. “Now we are up to 140 we are serving per meal. So, we needed a new kitchen and dining hall to be able to support the friends and neighbors we have coming to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with us.”

Offices are now in the back of the building, making room for additional dining hall and kitchen space. We’re told the kitchen can now fit up to 20 volunteers.

We didn’t have any way for our volunteers to get in here to cook,” Ray said. “We pretty much gutted out the offices and opened our kitchen and expanded it.”

He thanked the community for their donations and for making this possible. He said it’s a blessing.

“It helps our friends and neighbors,” he said. “That’s the primary thing we wanted them to do.  It’s not for us, it’s for them. We wanted to make sure that they are comfortable when they came in the building and relaxed. Just being a part of being able to help our friends and neighbors in the community is just a blessing.”

The shelter is also looking to raise $5 million to build a 3-story shelter for women and children. Ray said there are approximately 1,3000 homeless women in Savannah. He is hoping to have the shelter up and running next year.