If you haven’t driven by our main campus lately, I encourage you to come on by. You don’t even have to get out of the car to see what I’m talking about. We have a building going up and going up quickly. The Family Shelter is becoming a reality and all praises go to God!
The actual construction project started on January 3, 2011 with a projected
Construction is well underway!
completion date of mid-to- late fall. The architect company, Venture Architects, and the construction company, Lococo-Pilkington Construction (LPC) are an effective team in taking this project through to completion. This has been one of the most exciting times in Crossroads most recent history.
The new facility will sleep 100. There are 50 beds designated for the homeless emergency shelter and New Way Program side and fifty beds for the New Life Recovery on the other side of the building. We are planning on allowing parents to keep their children with them during their participation in the recovery program. We know of only one other program in the State of Arizona that has this benefit right now. Crossroads is about family reunification and family preservation.
The Career and Academic Center will be located in the new building too. As always, we will be opened to the public. Anyone who wants to earn a GED can come to the center and take the GED pre-test. After working on increasing their skills in the 5 areas of testing, we will send them to the AWC testing site. All of these services are free—even the GED test is free as it is funded by donors who support the education services at Crossroads. (By the way, you don’t have to wait for the new building. We do this right now on the main campus. Don’t wait!) Of course, we will continue to encourage Crossroads residents and clients to take full advantage of all adult education services offered at Crossroads. Just this past year, the education staff reports over 11, 000 study hours by clients and folks from the community seeking to improve their education.
While many things will stay the same, when the new shelter opens, we already are anticipating many things that will change. The Family Shelter staff members are developing plans to expand many services especially to the children. We understand the needs of the families when they need services at Crossroads. Many have never been in a homeless situation before and don’t really know what to expect at a shelter. While the parents are trying to get a job, they often are depressed and have a hard time meeting the day-to-day requirements of just living and keeping their family intact. We get them the services they need to help them return to a “normal” life as quickly as possible. We recognize the needs of the children as well. We don’t want them to be frightened at their new, temporary environment. Their stay at Crossroads should be a memorable stay filled with loving and caring staff and volunteers. (Even today, many times, the children don’t want to leave when it’s time to move into their new homes.)
As you can imagine, there is excitement in the air at Crossroads! We know that we have much work ahead of us. Business continues as usual while the Family Shelter is built. We are still short in the total dollars needed to complete the shelter project—about $250,000. We are planning some fund raisers during the summer. I’d like to remind the folks who made pledges for this project nearly 3 years ago to get those pledges in to help us get this project completed. Best of all, we continue to operate in faith that God knows exactly what and how much we need.
If you can make a donation, no matter the size, please go to our web site for online giving or click on this link to go directly to DONATE ONLINE http://crossroadsmission.org/donate.htm.
Finally and most importantly, remember Crossroads Mission when you pray. We know that the “effectual, fervent pray of a righteous man (and woman) availeth much”! James 5:16
Praise God, to Him be the glory!!!!!!