Provo's Deseret Industries has done what it set out to do and will continue to magnify its purpose, officials said Friday at dedicatory services for the new thrift store.
Formal dedicatory services for the newest facility in the thrift-store chain operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were held Friday night.
The new building, 1415 N. State Street, replaced the original Provo D.I. location, which was torn down to make room for parking space for the new building.
The dedicatory ceremonies opened with the presentation of the flag by the BYU Army ROTC and a choral number by a choir of Deseret Industries employees and trainees. Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, Church Welfare Services Director Harold C. Brown and Elder Ben B. Banks of the First Quorum of the Seventy all made opening remarks.
The dedicatory prayer, given by Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric of the church, focused on consecrating the building and the donations processed there to the work of welfare and the effort to meet the needs of less-privileged people.
The store's founding principles -- to provide employment for those in need of vocational rehabilitation while offering recirculated goods at minimum cost -- are still in place and illustrative of the new facility, McMullin said.
The new store features an LDS Employment Resource Center, a computer-training classroom and facilities to teach English as a second language to trainees.
Kristin Rowley, a sales supervisor at D.I., said business has increased since the new facility opened, and that has expanded the store's ability to help people.
'We've been able to serve a lot more people, and we're able to accept a lot more people who are referred to us from their bishops for work,' she said.
The store is managed by a 35-member staff, and employs 280 trainees with disabilities or language difficulties that make finding work in the business world difficult. These trainees set language and proficiency goals and work in conjunction with their supervisors to gain more marketable skills.
'One of the goals of the new building was to increase the amount D.I. earns so we can provide training classes beyond what we can offer here,' Rowley said. The store is hoping to send trainees that pass basic English and computer classes to more advanced classes at Utah Valley State College.
Rowley said the store's revamped image and more modern layout is also an added draw.
'The new store has kind of stepped up the image a little bit, too, so some people that might not have shopped here before are more willing to now,' she said.