Dozens of community members gathered to celebrate the completion of Mt. Hope Shelter, a new shelter that will aim to help families stabilize as they seek permanent housing.
Family Promise of Lawrence held a groundbreaking for the building — a former child care center at 200 Mt. Hope Court, near the DoubleTree — back in May. On Tuesday, they celebrated the building being move-in ready.
Mt. Hope Shelter has the capacity to serve six families, or up to 24 people at a time — an increase from four families or 15 people at a time. The shelter features a bedroom and bathroom for each individual family.
“Any definition of family that includes at least one child, we consider to be family,” according to a pamphlet shared with those in attendance.
The goal is for families to stay there until they achieve stabilization, and on average, that’s about 60 days, according to the pamphlet.
Lawrence City Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said he was a member of the organization’s board for several years. He said part of the reason he ran for office was the work he was doing with FPL, and this project has been a long time coming.
Mt. Hope Shelter will make a big difference for families experiencing homelessness in Lawrence, Finkeldei said.
“Family Promise is essential to helping those families, and this is a big part of that,” he said.
Brenda Wahl, executive director of FPL, said shelter is not the answer to homelessness — housing is — but “this shelter will provide a safe and stable place for families for the time that they need shelter.”
“This is the place where they can take a breath, where they can take care of their families, and they can do the work that they need to do to get into housing again,” she said.
They hope to move the first family in by Thanksgiving. Learn more on the organization’s website, lawrencefamilypromise.org.
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Molly Adams (she/her), photojournalist and news operations coordinator for The Lawrence Times, can be reached at molly@lawrencekstimes.com. Check out more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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