THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150367
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The Salvation Army on Wednesday kicked off a $3.5 million fund-raising campaign to convert a downtown motel into a homeless shelter and service center.
The organization hopes to buy the Comfort Inn at Tidewater Drive and Virginia Beach Boulevard and renovate it. In addition to housing for homeless people, it would provide dining space, child care, job- and life-skills training, offices for the Tidewater Salvation Army command and social-services space.
The ``Center of Hope'' campaign is the first building-fund drive in nearly 20 years by the Tidewater command, which operates in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
``We're the last resort for most,'' said John Brewington, chairman of the Salvation Army's advisory board. ``The need has been so great for so long, we now have an opportunity to address that.''
Most people connect the Salvation Army with Christmas bell-ringers who accept money from holiday shoppers. Not so well known is the organization's shelter on 19th Street, which feeds up to 500 people a day. Last year it provided sleeping space for more than 29,000 men, and gave emergency help with groceries, rent, utility payments and prescription medicines to more than 43,000.
Steering committee members have already pledged $1 million toward the campaign goal.
Purchase of the 65,000-square-foot Comfort Inn would allow the Salvation Army to expand its shelter space from 25 men to 175 men, women and children, including transitional living space.
It would also give space for child care while parents attend classes in budgeting, job training, parenting, cooking or other topics.
``We want to give them an address, a place they can stay for more than just one night,'' Brewington said. ``In this new facility we can do so much more, so much more.''
The existing shelter for men is often overcrowded, he said, pointing out that during the recent winter storm, 80 people were staying in a space designed for 40.
Organizers of the fund drive cited a study by The Planning Council indicating that 18,000 people in Hampton Roads find themselves homeless each year, and 6,000 are turned away from shelters for lack of space.
Fran Wagner of DataFund Services, which is directing the campaign for the Salvation Army, said public relations expenses, including a direct-mail plea for donations, will be held to $182,000.
The Salvation Army ranks high among charitable organizations in the percentage of donations that go directly to services, spending 86 cents of every dollar donated on the needy, Brewington said. by CNB