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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUNITED WAY HOUSING SERVICES DAY CENTER - PDP - 30-06 - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE (3)Suntlay. Business =FE� ay, June 25, 2006 s :.h ♦ Fort Collins Coloradoan less editor: Tom Johnson, 224-7740 E-mail: BusinessNews@coloradoan.com ity Piotrowski On the job things ask fore .rolling I o degree or not to degree? That is the question. !re comes a time in vorkers' lives they ask them- , "Should I go back -..t rn oar n clegree Homeless help in works Courtesy of United Way of Larimer County A rendering of the Housing Services Day Center shows what the building will look like when it is finished. Funding drives under way for 2 projects By CHRISTINE McMANUS ChristineMcManus@mloradoan.com The Open Door Mission in northern Old Town is beginning an $800,000 capital campaign to expand its homeless shelter, de- spite several false starts and tough competition for donations. : A separate capital cam- paign is under way to fund a $1.6 million Housing Ser- vices Day Center for homeless and nearly homeless people. The United Way; local govern- orado, so have the prob- Open Door shelter nearby, ments; faith -based,, hous- lems.. of homelessness,, do- in exchange for the mis- ing, nonprofit and other mestic violence, single sion's existing property. human service interests mothers in need, mental But that deal fell through during the past year raised health cases and the need when The Open Door at- $1 million of the $1.6 mil- for drug and alcohol treat- torney and director began lion needed for the center ment services.: reading the 3-inch-thick Te- at Conifer Street and Blue gal contract;, said the Rev. Spruce Drive. False starts Richard Thebo. The Open Door and Unit- Thebo is the founder, ed Way partnerships each Several of The Open president, CEO and pri- still need hundreds of thou- Door's. recent. attempts to mary paid staff member at sands of dollars in donations expand came up short. The Open Door Mission, to achieve their goals. IIn one attempt, an attor- 316 Jefferson St., formed in As the population has ney from outside the region grown in Northern Col- offered to build a new See HOMELESS/Page E3 Homeless Continued from Page El 1987. Though he would not dis- close specific donors who give more than $200,000 every year, he showed off his tidy, efficient shelter operation and food bank that houses about 40 people each night and serves 400-800 meals a week. Thebo wants to buy and re- model the building next door at 324 Jefferson St. into a women's shelter. His existing women's shelter has less than 10 beds for a Larirner County population of about 274,000 people. "They made an attempt to purchase (324 Jefferson St.), but their loan did not materialize at that moment, anyway," said Jim- my Phillips, a Fort Collins resi- dent who has owned the proper- ty since 1965. Phillips declined to disclose the for -sale price of the building. Thebo estimates The Open Door Mission is worth $650,000 to $750,000 but said he does not want to borrow against the property. New approach Last month, Thebo refreshed his approach at a homeless shel- ter conference in Seattle, Wash, sponsored by the Association for Gospel Rescue Missions. Now, he's focused on an $800,000 capital campaign for a women's shelter, rather than loans. Debt payments don't fit with his business model, which relies on charity, Thebo said If he can't buy the building next door, he will remodel and expand his property at the cor- ner of Jefferson and Linden streets. The Open Door Mission will likely kick off its official capital campaign next month. The Open Door vs. United Way partnership While they compete for dona- tions, The Open Door and the partnership building the Hous- ing Services Day Center differ in their views about the best ways to handle homelessness. Leaders of both groups say their services are worlds apart. Specifically, the Day Center plans to hire five or six paid caseworkers to help homeless people connect with various `Poverty is a culture of its own. To many people in poverty, any other way of life is completely foreign. What I try to do is show them another way of life and tell them that they don't have to live that way.' The Rev. Richard Thebo, founder, president, CEO of The Open Door Mission programs. Other government and human service interests would also participate at the proposed office -like building. Thebo said his role is that of a parent. 'Toverty is a culture of its own. To many people in poverty, any other way of life is completely foreign," Thebo said. "What I try to do is show them another way of life and tell them that they don't have to live that way." The Open Door offers two programs, one religious and one secular. A long-term shelter with work opportunities comprises the nondenominational Christ- ian program. A short-term shelter program for non-Christian people in need is also available. The short-term program includes a day center, where people can take refuge, receive mail, make phone calls, eat and bathe. "You can't shove God down their throats," Thebo said. "My job is to help people, regardless of whether God has spoken to them." Ten to 14 homeless people work at the shelter, cooking and cleaning in exchange for room and board. Some also have day jobs, but Thebo did not disclose employers. The Open Door relies almost entirely upon community dona- tions, solicited through a 4,000- copy monthly newsletter by Thebo. Holiday editions go out to 50,000 households, he said. Newsletter costs are among the nonprofit's largest, at $35,000 to $45,000 annually. Other significant expense cate- gories include Thebo's salary, approximately $40,000 annual- ly, and shelter services provided at $180,000 to $200,000 per year, according to tax records filed in 2002 through 2004. The United Way sees an un- met need, said executive direc- tor Gordan Thibedeau, even with the existence of a third shelter in Old Town run by Catholic Charities Northern on Linden Center Drive. In addition to the Housing Services Day Center, Northern Colorado's primary charity dis- tributor is beginning to form a different partnership to build a separate homeless shelter. The United Way might work with Catholic Charities to run its projects for the homeless. Within the next month, hous- ing center leaders will submit of- ficial plans to the city of Fort Collins for the Housing Services Day Center. Once plans are ap- proved by city officials, con- struction would take about five months, Thibedeau said. Plans for the 10,000-square- foot building have been contro- versial in nearby neighborhoods of north Fort Collins. "This is not an overnight shel- ter or a soup kitchen," Thibedeau said. "It won't be a place where people appear to be hanging out. It's a services cen- ter, like an office for people who want to get out of homeless- ness." Two of the seven board posi- tions governing the center will be for neighborhood representa- tives. The United Way is the fiscal agent for the Housing Services Day Center. The United Way has a $5.2 million annual budget and works with 62 nonprofits and health and human service organizations and five local ini- tiatives.