San Diego-based nonprofit Support the Enlisted Project opened its new national headquarters in a Miramar office park Thursday.
The nonprofit said its new, larger building will allow them grow into an organization that is able to help military families across the country.
STEP began helping local service members in 2012, providing financial education and assistance for enlisted people in need.
In 2020, it began distributing food and other household goods.
Jennifer Handy is a director at STEP. She said they've already been able to do more for families in the month since they moved in.
"We've already done more distributions in a month than we've done before and we've been able to take on more families as well," Handy said. "And we have more space for volunteers."
Cofounder and CEO Tony Teravainen said inflation and high cost of living are especially difficult for military families because they have to frequently move — often to costly areas.
He said there's more demand for assistance now than ever.
"So, we want to continue to add our program to more states and guarantee it in more states," he said. " It's not going to get any better, right? Inflation is still going to keep growing, and money challenges are going to be everywhere."
STEP has expanded along the west coast and recently into Hawaii. But it's able to provide services to military families nationwide.
They're helping families in 47 states, Teravainen said.
"Each year we donate about 250,000 pounds of food, 250,000 diapers and about $1 million worth of merchandise that's donated to us that we can give back directly to families," he said. "This larger warehouse helps us answer the call locally, while the building itself helps us answer the call nationally."
Teravainen said that while they're expanding capacity for immediate assistance, the goal remains to help military families get control of their finances via their financial literacy program.
"We've executed that program with over 10,000 families now across the country," he said. "And yes, that's amazing to say that."
He said after one year, it's effective for 90% of families who complete it.
