September 2014 Newsletter

Download a PDF to read the full newsletter. Or read our featured article below.

Samaritan Inn To Move

To Old Umpqua Medical Center

 

Homeless women and children have been turned away from Samaritan Inn for a lack of room to accommodate them. Some have slept on our couches or mats on the floor. Others have returned to abusive situations. Some have slept in their cars. There is a real need for a larger, better equipped facility to meet the increasing need.

Our shelter for homeless women and children was opened in a residential house in 1985, 29 years ago. A second house, located next door, was purchased in 1999. To meet the increasing need, a third adjacent house was purchased in 2009. Still the need exceeds available space. Buying a fourth or fifth house would be a very difficult way of managing an increasing population of clients in crisis. We need a single, larger facility to bring more organization to the operation.

To address our obvious need, we contacted three marketing companies. We wanted to know if Douglas County could support a capital campaign to raise an estimated $3 to $3.5 million to build a new facility. They pointed to our demographics. Considering our county’s population, median income and unemployment, the conclusion was a resounding “no”; it was not a realistic expectation. The very factors causing an increase in homelessness are the same preventing the purchase of a new facility.

The next best option was to find an existing building that could easily be remodeled. Roseburg’s economy has left it with several empty buildings for us to find a suitable structure and location. We found a good facility. The Umpqua Medical Center, at 544 W Umpqua St. in Roseburg, has been empty for a few years. It was twelve medical and dental condominium units. There are three separate, two-story buildings connected by covered walkways on both floors. They form a “U” shape, with a center courtyard. There is an elevator. No zoning changes or conditional use permits are required. There is ample off street parking, good security and excellent location for social services. The facility was designed for remodeling; all support walls are on the perimeter of the buildings.

There are some operational improvements that we want to accomplish. Samaritan Inn currently has a capacity of 50 beds. The new facility will increase that number to 119 beds. Our existing three houses have a total of 4965 square feet. The new facility has 15,000 square feet. There are 72 on-site, paved parking spaces. It is well fenced and the layout provides for significantly improved security. The location is much better for schools, social services, employment, shopping. FTThere will be more room for children’s play areas, classrooms, offices and Department of Human Services visitations with mothers and children. There will be a common area large enough for everyone to gather in a single room for dining, dayroom and chapel. It will have a commercial kitchen. It will provide adequate restrooms, showers, laundry. The length of stay will be increased, giving women and children the time needed to recoup from the stress of their homeless situation. It will provide living areas for mothers and children, separate from women without children. The larger facility will provide separate areas for clients with special needs.

The total purchase and remodeling cost is $1.6 million, half the cost of new construction. Harvard Medical Group has agreed to accept the three houses of our existing shelter as a partial trade for their ownership of ten of the twelve medical units. They have also agreed to lease the houses back to us during remodeling. The other two units have been donated to the Mission through a property exchange agreement with another party. Three foundations have agreed to fund this project with grant money. It sounds so simple, but we have been working on this project for three years. We expect to take ownership this month. However, we do not have all of the funding needed for remodeling. We have waited to make this appeal for community support until now, because we had a very definite closing date to have the grant money. We did not want to make this appeal until we were sure that we had a project ready to support. Now, we are ready to make this announcement and ask our community to fill the gap in funding to complete this project.

Would you please contribute to the new Samaritan Inn, so that we as a community can adequately provide for the needs of homeless women and children. And so that we continue to be “A Beacon of Hope for the Homeless.” With your help, we can stop turning women and children away, because there is not enough room at Samaritan Inn. And finally, there will be a chapel large enough for everyone to hear the Gospel. Along the way, we were turned down, even put down, by some foundations for grants, because we are a Christian organization. Yet, our vision statement remains, “To establish and develop saving relationships with Jesus Christ among the homeless.” We want Samaritan Inn to continue to be a light of hope in a dark world, never shrinking back from our identity and purpose.