It doesn’t look like much – half-finished walls, an outline of a stage and a pile of lumber in the middle of the floor.

But considering Tommy Ivey has been working with a shoestring budget and only a few volunteers, Operation Nineveh is miles ahead of where it was six months ago.

Eventually, Ivey wants to open Nineveh as a homeless shelter and soup kitchen on South Church Street. He said he also wants to hold church services there, as well.

“We took the awning off and enclosed the windows and put siding over them on the outside,” said Ivey, pastor of New Life Full Gospel Church in Rocky Mount. “We’ve framed up the walls in the front part of the building, and now we’re building the stage.

“If we’d had a couple more carpenters and some more donations, we’d be through with the front by now.”

Work so far has been done with one carpenter and several helpers, who have the desire to assist but not the skills required to renovate an empty 7,000-square-foot building into a place where those in need eventually can come to get a warm meal, a bed to sleep and a hot shower.

“We need licensed electricians, plumbers, painters and carpenters,” Ivey said. “And we need more people to just come down here and catch the vision.

“Once you come down here, and see what you can do to change lives – that’s what I mean by catching the vision.”

In the past year, donations have trickled in through friends, neighbors and occasional booths set up at businesses, as well as a couple of charity golf tournaments organized by Operation Nineveh co-founder Bryan Bush. The Operation Nineveh Fall Classic, the next in a series of golf events, is scheduled for Oct. 15 at Northgreen Country Club.

“Each tournament has been bigger than the previous one,” said Bush, a teaching pro at Northgreen and Ivey’s son-in-law.

“We’ll have great prizes, great fellowship, great food and great golf on a great golf course.”

Registration starts at noon on the day of the tournament, and the entry fee is $50 for singles and $200 per team.

“We’ve still got spots open for both singles and teams,” Bush said. “And we’re also looking for hole sponsors, so if any businesses out there want to donate to the tournament, please give us a call.”

The golf tournament is expected to provide a much-needed influx of cash to the organization, Ivey said, and that will help pay for building materials.

Ivey said he hopes to have the front part of the building, which will house the sanctuary, completed by the end of the year. The back part, which will hold the shelter and kitchen is at least a year away from being done.

“We’re looking for someone to build a firewall now,” Ivey said. “We can’t have any services here – or anything else – until we do that.

“We just need people to come down here and catch the vision.”

For information on how to help Operation Nineveh or the golf tournament, call Ivey at 252-236-2978 or Bush at 252-218-5544.