FINDLAY, Ohio — A new facility and a new year-round program are coming to the City Mission of Findlay.
The City Mission of Findlay is consistently at capacity, which is why they have worked for years to establish a separate Women's with Children shelter off site.
"Last year we served 19 families with 33 children. This year we've already served 40 families with over 50 children and we still have three months left in the year," said City Mission director Kathryn Bausman. "So, we don't have space. For the first time ever we're telling families, 'I'm sorry, there are no rooms available.'"
Now, with a deed donation from Whitman Title Security & Law, the City Mission of Findlay will soon own the former Family Resource Center facility on Main Street, doubling their women and children capacity to seven to nine families at a time.
"We'll be able to bring those collaborating agencies in, that way we can kind of speed up the process to help get them to permanent housing and stability much quicker than we do here." said Charity Hensley, program and community support coordinator at the City Mission.
Bausman says with four family rooms then opening up in their main facility, The City Mission will have enough space to finally open a low barrier shelter.
That will allow people to come in off the streets for a meal and a warm place to sleep for one night without a drug or alcohol test.
"Probably open at seven at night to nine in the morning and that way the sheriff's department, the police can bring in people, they can rouse people and say, 'There's a place for you to sleep and is safe,'" said Bausman.
The creation of a dedicated Women's with Children shelter will also mean all of their related resources will be under one roof as well, helping to speed up the process of getting these families back on their feet.
The City Mission of Findlay will also be hiring additional staff.
"We have a family advocate and she'll move over, but this will be a 24/7 staffed facility," said Bausman. "So we will have to hire staff to make sure that it's manned properly."
While the entire renovation project is slated to cost a little more than $1 million, Bausman said to get this new facility occupant ready for their needs, they would only need to raise about $500,000 to $600,000 initially.
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