When Beaufort County leased two houses to Higher Height Human Services for a $1 annually, a shimmer of optimism glowed during the Jan. 23 ribbon cutting ceremony. Now, four months later the optimism is still there, but the nonprofit is still searching for financial assistance.

During Monday’s Washington City Council meeting, Loretta Ebison, executive director of Higher Heights, made her request for $6,500 to help purchase many items needed in the house, along with routine maintenance.

To open the first house, they received a $12,500 grant from the Jonathan Havens Charitable Trust, and Ebison raised nearly $10,000 after speaking at churches.

“Being a new nonprofit and not having a strategic fundraiser in place — as many nonprofits don’t, we face financial difficulty, so we asked for financial assistance from city council,” Ebison said.

One of Higher Heights’ goals this summer is to get a fundraiser in place to gain help for operating support.

“As I mentioned to city council, we have no paid employees,” Ebison said. “Anybody who does anything for Higher Heights is strictly voluntary, but we have other operating costs to worry about.”

Higher Heights currently leases two houses from the county. One is used as an office and the other is the future site of a residential maternity home.

“We have petitioned the Jonathan Havens Charitable Trust for funds to start on house two,” Ebison said. “They did fund us last year for house one, but we submitted the application to receive funds so we can start remodeling house two.”

Higher Heights still has not quite called their location at 1735 Highland Drive in Washington home. Ebison and her board of directors continue the search for computers and desks.

“We would be okay with used furniture that is in good shape in either house because we don’t want to revisit this again, so we want furniture that is going to last for awhile,” Ebison said. “We prefer three new computers obviously because it outdates so quickly, but on top of that, we would like financial support to pay the basic bills we have.”

For more information about Higher Heights or to learn how to help visit, higherheightshs.org or call Loretta Ebison at 252-945-3089.