Opinion: New Bethany House shelter will have big impact on homelessness, poverty

Sept. 14, 2021 was a day I felt extra proud to be part of this community. At a ceremony on a beautiful sunny day, more than 100 community members gathered to break ground on Bethany House Services’ new shelter and comprehensive services center.

It was the culmination of seven years of effort to bring together such a variety of people to accelerate our ability to better serve and break the cycle of generational poverty for thousands of homeless children and their moms. It was a reminder of how powerful it can be when we work together, and it was a boost of confidence in the work still to do.

After more than 38 years of sheltering homeless families in a hodgepodge collection of old, maintenance-needy buildings across the county, less than a year from now we will house all of our families, staff and community partners in one modern, efficient building. We will be able to move families into their own housing more quickly and open space to serve another 100 families a year. Kevin Finn, president and CEO of Strategies to End Homelessness, says this is the most important initiative around homelessness in the community.

That means more struggling young parents can find housing, a job and life skills to keep their children in stable housing. It means thousands more children are consistently attending school and getting the medical and mental health care they need. Even though homeless children aren’t often seen, they bear the worst of homelessness. They are sick and hungry twice as often, change schools seven or eight times a year, are diagnosed with twice the rate of learning disabilities and likely to have a major mental health disorder by the time they are just eight years old. Bethany House has improved those odds for 37 years.

But it takes all of us who were represented at that groundbreaking to walk beside the children and young moms in our community who are struggling most. This community raised an unbelievable $18.5 million – during a pandemic – to move this project forward. We are working to raise just the last $1 million or so to outfit the facility with some final important needs, like commercial kitchen equipment.

It takes the truly incredible staff of Bethany House, who put their arms around women and children at their most desperate time when they may not be their prettiest or their best. This new facility will make all of the difference for our team doing this hard, hard work.

It takes the more than 80 community partners who will be able to do their work here where the families are – the medical and mental health professionals, the people who will help our moms with jobs and their parenting skills, the organizations that provide child care and clothing and furniture and haircuts.

It takes the government, supplementing the private sector, using our taxpayer dollars to do work that will make the community healthier, safer and more equitable and improve the future for all of us.

It takes dozens of significant private donors, putting their own personal assets on the line and attracting others to do the same to make a difference for a generation of children.

And it takes hundreds of folks of everyday means who stretched themselves to contribute what they could to play a part and thousands who volunteer their time and skills and personal touch.

All of us can feel proud, of the community-wide commitment we are making to say family homeless is not acceptable here and we’re going to keep fighting.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all of us at Bethany House and on behalf of the families we support.

Carolyn Washburn is board chair of Bethany House Services.