WARREN Mission seeks help for homeless shelter for women, children

Four churches in Trumbull County are aiding the remodeling effort.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Warren Family Mission seeks the public's help to establish a shelter for homeless women and children in a donated duplex before winter arrives.
"There's a great need for housing for women, and women with children," said Patrick Murray, the mission's director of operations. "We need financial support and labor support" to establish the shelter, he said.
"If we don't get this, where else are we going to send them?" the mission's Pastor Dan Ellis said of homeless women and children. "We can't keep turning people away," he added. Some 35 percent of the homeless population nationally consists of women and children, the Rev. Mr. Ellis said.
The mission has limited space to house women in its headquarters building at 361 Elm Road N.E. -- the former Elm Road Elementary. Children can be housed there only on an emergency basis, Murray said.
House was donated
A local businessman, who prefers to remain anonymous, donated to the mission the century-old six-bedroom duplex at 491 Porter St. N.E., which the mission plans to convert into a women's and children's shelter. The house was formerly a Trumbull County group home for boys.
"If we open this facility, we can help people get off the street and help them to start to become self-sufficient," Murray said. "It's a large structure, and we need quite a bit of work done to it."
The vacant house is across the parking lot from the mission's headquarters and within the mission's fenced-in compound.
The mission has already raised $26,000 of the $75,000 minimum needed for the renovations, said Murray, a former drywall contractor. The renovation will include installation of new plumbing and electrical wiring and a new heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system.
Residents and volunteers
Although licensed contractors and skilled tradespeople will do the electrical, plumbing and HVAC work, much of the labor for the remodeling will be provided by mission residents in a work-readiness program and by parishioners of various churches, who will volunteer their time, Murray said.
"I'm using labor out of the mission. I'm trying to teach guys the different trades, trying to help them, so maybe, when they leave here, they're not going to have to go out and get a $6-an-hour job," Murray said.
"Through the Bible, we're trying to help people clean their lives up," Murray said. "In helping people get off drugs, in trying to teach them a trade, we're trying to rehabilitate not only their bodies, but their souls also."
The Porter Street building, which will be able to accommodate up to 29 residents with four staff members, will have 24-hour awake staff supervision. It will feature a handicapped-accessible first floor, including a wheelchair entry ramp and a handicapped-accessible bedroom and bathroom.
The first floor will feature a reception room that will double as a classroom for parenting, life-skills and money-management classes and drug and alcohol treatment programs. It will also feature a living room, kitchenette, dining area, laundry room, an office and staff quarters.
Those using the six second-floor bedrooms will share two upstairs bathrooms.
Helping out
Assisting in the volunteer effort are the Kinsman, Howland and Vernon United Methodist churches.
North-Mar Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance has agreed to supply materials and volunteer labor for the back and side porch and handicapped-access ramp installations. Siding for the house has already been donated by 84 Lumber, Murray said.
Mission staff will gladly give presentations on the mission and its women's and children's shelter project to interested church groups, Murray said.
The mission, located on the northeast fringe of the city's downtown, is participating in an anti-crime community action group called "Take Back the Neighborhood Now."
milliken@vindy.com