The Hope Center is closed as fall begins and it may need some help to re-open, officials say.
Leaky pipes forced the center to replace the water lines that are part of its fire-prevention sprinkler system.
The Hope Center, which provides shelter and help for women who need it, is located at the intersection of 12th and Kalmia streets, took out a $28,000 loan to pay for the repairs and is seeking assistance paying it back.
“We had thin-walled pipes on this sprinkler system, and it was springing leaks, which we needed to get repaired,” said Nancy Robeck, co-director of the center. The organization had to take out a loan for the first time ever to pay for the repairs and install heavier pipes and sprinkler heads.
The loan covered most of the replacement, she said. The Hope Center set up an account at Umpqua Bank called the Hope Center Sprinkler System to receive donations. Donors may also give on-line through the Hope Center website,
sweethomehopecenter.com.
The center closed on July 1 to begin repairs, Robeck said. Normally, the facility closes annually in August for maintenance and repairs and reopens by the end of the month.
The process is taking longer than Hope Center volunteers anticipated, and they are unsure when they will be able to reopen the center.
The contractor is preparing new engineered drawings of the sprinkler system, said co-Director Lynn Wiens, and the city is making additional requirements, including new drawings of the Hope Center building.
“We’ve got to satisfy the city, and we don’t know what all that’s going to be,” Wiens said, but the building drawings will cost as much as $4,000 to $5,000. When those are complete, they will be submitted and the city will list other items that need to be completed.
Hope Center representatives don’t know what will be on that list yet or how much it will cost.
The building is old, Wiens said. It was built in 1944 or 1945, and other expenses are looming.
The furnaces are 20 years old, she said. Like the sprinkler system, they were installed when the Hope Center opened in 1990.
The facility has been funded entirely by donations from churches, individuals and businesses since it opened, Wiens said.
First Baptist Church sold the building to the Hope Center for a “very gracious amount,” Wiens said.
Staffing is 100 percent volunteer, Wiens said. “It’s people who really have a heart for helping people in a tough place.”
Hope Center is a long-term women’s shelter and transitional housing facility, offering women in transition longer stays in order to make changes that are lasting in their lives, according to the organization’s purpose statement: “Women alone and women with children are given a safe and supportive place to discover and recover God’s plan for their lives. We believe that God created the Hope Center in order to give women and children the unique opportunity to make long-term life changes.”
The Hope Center provides a place to stay and resources for women who want to help themselves get on their feet, Robeck said. The organization encourages women to finish their education and helps provide job training.
People who are goal-oriented and want to get on their feet are the kind the Hope Center helps, Wiens said.
To this end, the center offers support through mentoring, friendships, Bible studies and accountability as well as providing information and direction to agencies that are able to help with education, job training and other life skills.
The Hope Center serves two to six women, often with children, at any given time.
“What we try to do is form an extended family,” Wiens said, to provide the support women need to succeed.
Among the Hope Center’s clients is a woman in her late 40s who has nearly completed her bachelor of arts degree, Wiens said. She had pushed drugs for 25 years of her life and is now turning her life around.
“What we gave her was the support to be able to do that,” Wiens said. “We give people those chances where they failed before because of a lack of support.”
Clients may range from the early 20s to 60s.
The center originally opened as a place where women could escape domestic violence, Wiens said, but the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence does well in that area now.
The Hope Center will often take people in until they can get connected to CARDV, Wiens said, and sometimes, CARDV uses the Hope Center.
The center has a staff of 12 regular volunteers and six board members, including Wiens, Robeck, Sheila Kent, Jeff Lockman, Scott Hegge and Sharon Walker. The board has one board position open.
The center operates on around $25,000 per year, Wiens said.
For information, call 367-HOPE.