After just 10 days of being open the new family shelter is at capacity
I was at the shelter last week and could not believe the safe and positive environment that has been created for families!
Since the renovation, The Salvation Army R.J. Montgomery Family Hope Center has been consistently full. We have even doubled up a few single mom families and are currently sheltering 33 families and 55 children. Sadly, as one family exits, another one quickly fills the vacancy.
I’m told our team receives 3-7 calls each day from families looking for a place to stay.
This confirms the need for the shelter conversion and why we are working on plans to build a new facility to serve even more families at 908 Yuma Street. The good news – families are finding permanent housing! Several families have already exited the Family Hope Center into permanent housing. When I was there last Thursday, Marcus, an 8 year-old boy at the shelter, ran up to me to tell me he was “going to leave.” I said, “You are? Where are you going?”
Grinning from ear-to-ear, he replied, “We’re going to a real house!”
And then he went on to say he was going to miss “this place” because he had made friends and “people were nice.”
The new atmosphere and transformational rebuilding opportunities for families experiencing homelessness is amazing! The Family Hope Center is meeting families’ immediate needs as well as providing case management and resources that equip, educate, and empower families for success.
The shelter also provides a sense or normalcy and community for families in crisis by scheduling activities like a Mother’s Day BBQ with crafts and games. Last weekend, they had a Father’s Day and Birthday Cookout celebrating our nine dads and three children’s birthdays. Single dads, a population we were unable to serve before, is truly a celebration with the new configuration. We currently have three of them at the shelter.
Here’s a link to a powerful KOAA story on one of dad’s from the ribbon cutting in case you missed it. https://www.koaa.com/news/
I hope this helps give you a glimpse of the lives that are being changed daily because of the generous support of people like you.