FRANKLIN—High Street United Methodist Church is donating its fellowship hall on First Avenue in Franklin to Cooperative Ministries.

“We’re very excited,” said Gretchen Hopkins, chairwoman of the board of directors for Cooperative Ministries, which helps the disadvantaged with housing, utilities, prescriptions, dental care, household goods and clothing.

Ann Jervey, chairwoman of the building committee for High Street United Methodist’s new $8.7 million church, said the vote was taken Thursday to donate what’s known as the Ellis Frankfort Memorial Fellowship Hall to Cooperative Ministries.

“We are so happy to be able to do this,” Jervey said. “We think Cooperative Ministries deserves so much and helps so many people.”

The fellowship hall was built in memory of Frankfort, who was an Air Force fighter pilot killed at age 21 in the South Pacific during World War II. His brother, Phil, belongs to High Street United Methodist Church.

High Street United Methodist by the end of the year plans to be in its new 30,000-square-foot building on Camp Parkway near Riverdale Elementary School between Courtland and Franklin. Bob Luck, the church’s onsite construction representative, said the project is on schedule.

“We were very fortunate to get it up and out of the ground before any major rain hit,” Luck said.

The church will sit on 47 acres. The building will include a 350-seat sanctuary, a two-story education building, a fellowship hall with a kitchen and administration offices.

Cooperative Ministries is currently located in a Main Street building the agency owns next to the post office in Franklin.

“It’s small and it’s old and very crowded, and in the flood zone,” Hopkins said.