Paul Cooley, a court-ordered community service volunteer, places a chair Wednesday in the room that the La Pine St. Vincent de Paul uses to display furniture for sale.

Each month, Susan Spetter goes to the La Pine St. Vincent de Paul for fresh milk, frozen carrots, a loaf of bread and other free food.

In the past seven years that she has lived in La Pine, Spetter also has received help with heating bills and medication for her 12-year-old bipolar stepson.

“I couldn’t make it without St. Vincent,” said Spetter, 40, who is married, does not work because of health issues and also has a 17-year-old son.

She is one of hundreds of residents from La Pine to Christmas Valley who rely on aid from St. Vincent each month — a number that continues to increase and has prompted the charity and thrift store to relocate from its building on Morson Street to a new building in the Newberry Business Park.

That move will allow the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in La Pine to grow from about 3,400 square feet to 8,000 square feet, Social Services Director Jerry Crosby said.

The society hopes to have construction finished in time to relocate next fall and expand the number of people served by at least one-third.

Last month, St. Vincent helped 1,038 residents — up from 690 in October 2006.

The charity handed out 281 food boxes last month and spent $500 on produce, $355 on clothing and more than $500 on beds, mattresses, pots and pans, Crosby said. St. Vincent also covered $2,000 worth of electric bills and spent about the same amount on temporary shelters.

“We’re just seeing a lot of demand for a lot of help,” Crosby said.

To meet that demand, St. Vincent bought three lots Jan. 16 in the Newberry Business Park for a total of $135,000, according to Deschutes County property records. The La Pine charity and thrift store became its own entity in October 2006, when it separated from the Bend branch.

Each year for the last eight years, longtime volunteer Arlene Mura tucked away about $6,250 of St. Vincent’s revenue to come up with a down payment of $50,000 for the three lots.

When complete, the new building will allow St. Vincent to sell more large items, like appliances, that help the charity pay for its free food boxes, medication and other aid.

Store Manager Joy Croker also hopes to get bigger furniture and have double the space for antiques and clothing.

“The more money we make, the more we can serve the public,” she said.

The current building on Morson Street became too small soon after St. Vincent moved in around 1993, Mura said. The food pantry is 160 square feet, and her office is 90 square feet.

“I knew 10 minutes after we moved in it was too little,” Mura added.

It took years for her to save up because there is no consistent funding for the La Pine St. Vincent de Paul, which mainly relies on sales from the thrift store.

St. Vincent board member Corinne Martinez said that if everything goes as planned, she hopes to see the new store open next fall and aid hundreds more low-income seniors, children and families.

“There is a need for the poor, and that’s our mission,” Martinez said. “It really isn’t this big developing of a new facility … we’ve got to have more space to serve those people.”