Building Out Hope

on Jan 19, 2021

Did you know that nearly 40% of the guests we serve are children? Our Juno House shelter for women and children runs at or near capacity all year, with an ongoing wait list. With the need for shelter greater than ever in our community, we’re looking for creative ways to keep as many families as possible off the street.

After taking a careful look at Juno House, we realized that our existing case management office could hold an entire family if we were able to find another place for the office. With architectural drawings donated by our generous friends at Strang Architects, we strategized a build-out for a case management office in the basement of the shelter.

With permits and drawings in hand, we prepared to start building, and it was going to be so simple! All we had to do was reroute the entire basement fire sprinkler system, build and connect additional HVAC, wire the office for electrical, phone, and internet, install a thermostat, rewire and move security cameras, and perhaps the biggest job of all, move over a thousand pounds of stored food, supplies, and shelving.

Imagine relocating your own pantry/supply closet, and then multiply that for a house that holds 35 people at a time. It was a formidable project, but longtime volunteer Rosemary Becker and board member Roberta Block rallied helpers from all over the community, and did an incredible job reorganizing the supplies and clearing the way for construction.

Construction finally began in November and was spearheaded by longtime Hebron House board member Jeff TeRonde, who has construction experience and is a member of RiverGlen Christian Church. RiverGlen has been an incredible supporter of ours, and they supplied a whole team of volunteers from their congregation to make this build happen.

Partway through the construction we discovered that the shelter's plumbing lines had to be moved to accommodate the drop-ceiling, but before we could even start to plan a solution, Paul at PJ's Plumbing told us he would donate his services for the job.

With a plumbing setback averted, Tyler at Adair Commercial Flooring jumped in and offered to donate carpet and vinyl base molding for the office, along with free installation. Board member Keith Harenda of KPH Construction donated and operated a professional-grade rotary laser that helped make our acoustical ceiling flawless, and together we built an office that will serve as a resource for years to come.

On January 1, just in time for the new year, we moved our case managers into the new office and expanded the house to bring another family in from the cold.