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Capital CampaignCAPITAL CAMPAIGN- We Are Remodeling October, 2007 As you may be aware, we have occupied 121 Whitehills Drive since 1989. Our building was used in the past for a sorority and fraternity house. Since moving into the building in 1989, we have had more than 5,400 shelter residents come through our doors, including over 3,000 children. We have assisted approximately 18,000 people through our Food Pantry as part of the Greater Lansing Foodbank. That is a lot of people and a lot of wear and tear on the building. Our Building needs help. We need roof repairs, remodeling of the client bathrooms and new floor coverings in several client areas. We also want to improve client services by separating the lobby area away from case management functions to increase confidentiality and openness of discussions with staff. This will also improve space utilization. And we need to create additional space for our Food Pantry so that clients can participate in the selection of the food that they receive. The project will also be increasing our accessibility by having our main entrance become handicapped accessible. Our estimated goal is $175,500 to complete the project. We have received grants of $50,000 from the Lansing Rotary Foundation, $12,000 from the East Lansing Rotary Foundation, $4,500 from the City of East Lansing, and $5808 from the Capital Region Community Foundation. Some portions of these grants require us to raise matching funds from other sources. We have mounted a Capital Campaign to which the response thus far has been very gratifying, and we are in the process of applying for matching funds from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). Update, January, 2008 We are nearing the end of our fundraising efforts for the Capital Campaign. Our supporters have been very generous and we have raised over $40,000 from our Capital Campaign, in addition to the grants reported earlier. As a result of this we were in a good position to apply for a matching grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and have received word that we will receive a matching grant from them. The final details are currently being negotiated. We hope to begin the project sometime in February. Although it promises to be chaotic during the remodeling, especially because we will continue running the shelter during that period, we are looking forward to being able to use the building more effectively once the remodeling has been completed. |