Two new side-by-side stores are coming to the heart of Carnegie's business district with the purpose of enriching lives.

Adventist Community Services of Greater Pittsburgh will open a used bookstore and a computer room with Internet and WI-FI access, food and comfortable furniture in leased quarters at 40 E. Main St.

Its goal is to provide a variety of social services to the community, including job training and home renovation.

The job training, which will be done at the municipal building in conjunction with the chamber of commerce, will include resume writing, job search and interview tips, and aiding couples who are prospective entrepreneurs. The budding businessmen will be able to launch their ventures from the bookstore facility until ready to strike out on their own.

As for home renovation, the Adventists hope to restore dilapidated dwellings with the intent of making them available for sale.

"We're hoping this will lessen the number of landlords who don't take care of their properties," said Pastor Andrew Clark, 31, executive director of Adventist Community Services.

In a community where 40 percent of residential property are rental units, the home renovation program alone should be appealing.

Mr. Clark has met resistance from a few Carnegie council members who, in part, had zoning questions and thought the borough had enough churches.

The Adventists are a humanitarian arm of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Mr. Clark was relentless in his quest for a home in Carnegie.

"When Adventist Services comes to town, we do not go halfway. I find it very ironic that it's been mentioned to me, 'Why do we need a social services agency when we have no need?' There is a real need," he told Carnegie council Dec. 11.

After clarifying the zoning concern and learning of support from the Carnegie Ministerium and many residents, officials were persuaded last week to grant the required conditional use permit for the bookstore and computer room.

One official who did not need persuading was Dorothy Kelly, who was council president when Hurricane Ivan struck in September 2004 and witnessed firsthand the assistance provided to people in Carnegie by church-affiliated organizations.

"If it were not for the churches, I don't know what this town would have done. You can't count on government. It's groups like these that help," she said, adding later her confidence in the Adventist approach of helping people help themselves.

Mr. Clark's business card says, "We must be the change we want to see in our communities."

A bookstore and computer room were not on his mind when Mr. Clark arrived in Carnegie from Washington, D.C., more than two years ago in response to requests from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and Allegheny County for help after Hurricane Ivan.

After establishing a commodities' collection and redistribution center at Great Southern Shopping Center in Collier, Mr. Clark quickly realized that the majority of clients lived in the Carnegie 15106 ZIP code and that they had issues beyond the replacement of material goods.

Besides recognizing the need for social services, Mr. Clark found himself drawn to Carnegie.

"To have a community embrace us like that was just incredible," he said, adding he was impressed with the clients and camaraderie in Carnegie's ecumenical and business communities.

Declining to return to Washington, Mr. Clark wrote grants to keep the center open and expanded its scope of services. Nearly 1,000 households received necessary items, as well as post-traumatic counseling, eviction prevention and utility assistance funding.

The Adventists have a staff of four full-time employees, one part-time worker and many volunteers. Among the staff is Mr. Clark's wife, Mayda, who he married last year at Phipps Conservatory. The couple had their wedding reception at a Carnegie church and used a Carnegie florist, printer and caterer.

Plans call for Adventist Services, a nonprofit agency, to start outfitting its new headquarters next month. A grand opening will take place no later than March. With a recently hired social worker on staff, referral services will begin immediately and social service programs will be expanded.

"The thing that's exciting for us is that it wouldn't have been possible for me to be here except for the people. There are really great people in Carnegie," Mr. Clark said.

The group, which signed a four-year lease, intends to continue its work with the Greater Chartiers Valley Outreach, formerly known as the Greater Chartiers Valley Long Term Recovery Team.