A group of Gilroy volunteers are on their way to securing South County’s first year-round, overnight homeless shelter, thanks to a $25,000 grant and another matching grant for up to an additional $25,000 from the philanthropic Sobrato Family Foundation.
The money is a huge boost for the Gilroy Compassion Center – a nonprofit organization near Monterey and Leavesley roads currently providing daytime outreach services for South County’s needy – in its efforts to put a down payment on a permanent building.
The Center currently operates out of a space donated two-and-a-half years ago by a local businessman and right now is only open from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. The Center’s current agreement with building owner Jim Currier allows the organization to operate out of the space for another two years.
Thanks to the Sobrato Foundation’s grant and matching grant for a possible combined total of $75,000, the Compassion Center could potentially raise half of the $1.5 million needed to purchase the building it has its sights set on (the location of which has not been released).
Remaining in its current location, alternately, would cost $3 million to purchase and finish renovating.
Grassroots organizers, including the Center’s Board Chair Jan Bernstein-Chargin, underline the influx of funding as an “exciting” development in the effort to establish “the only year-round shelter in South County.”
Chargin has played a key leadership role in getting the organization off the ground, dating back to when it was a mere idea spurred by the conviction of Currier, who in December 2010 saw a homeless man standing outside McDonald’s in the cold.
“I gave him my coat,” Currier later told the Dispatch in a January 2011 interview. “Then went home and thought about it.”
The encounter was the final straw compelling Currier, a volunteer involved with the National Guard Armory on Wren Avenue and St. Joseph’s Family Center on Church Street for several years, to see if he could aid the city in establishing a permanent homeless shelter – something that had been attempted in Gilroy previously without success.
The owner of Flowstar, Inc., a company at 6800 Silacci Way that creates modular cleanrooms, Currier owned the 42,500-square-foot industrial structure at 8425 Monterey St. and was compelled to do something good with the building that was standing empty at the time. Compassion Center organizers set up shop in the edifice in 2011 and have continued to grow their outreach efforts from there.
Today, between 60 and 80 clients pass through the Center’s doors on any given day in search of services and a sense of community – but they can’t spend the night.
Visitors must leave the building at noon. They can go to Gilroy’s National Guard Armory, but the warehouse only opens its doors to the homeless overnight from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. during the months of December, January, February and March. The Compassion Center’s goal from the get-go has been to help mitigate that gap.
“Right now, as of the end of March, people who rely on shelters won’t have a place to sleep – a place that’s legal, a place that’s off the street,” Chargin explained.
Energized by the new influx of funds, the Center is in the midst of Real Estate negotiations and looking at sites that could be a good place to establish an overnight shelter.
Organizers considered the FloStar building, but getting the building up to code in order to make it an overnight shelter, which includes the installation of a sprinkler system, would require a costly restructuring.
“We’d be looking at $3 million,” Chargin said.
The other site the Compassion Center is eyeing would cost roughly $1.5 million, including the cost of adding bathrooms and showers necessary to meet current city building codes.
“It would be a much smaller (fundraising) campaign,” Chargin noted.
The Gilroy Compassion Center was one of four to receive grant money from the Sobrato Family Foundatio – which has offices in Milpitas, San Jose and Redwood City – and hopes the money will help address the problem of homelessness in Silicon Valley.
“The Sobrato family hopes these foundation grants serve as a signal to other high-wealth individuals, foundations, and corporations to commit to joining the effort to end homelessness in our community,” said Rick Williams, Sobrato Family Foundation’s CEO.
-To learn more about the Capital Campaign project and it’s next steps, attend one of the meetings held between Feb 17 and 21. To receive information about meeting dates and times, contact Tony Mannino by email at: [email protected] or by phone at: (408)859-8654.
Donations
-To donate towards the Capital Campaign project, please make checks out to the Gilroy Compassion Center and deliver them in person to the center at 8425 Monterey Road, Gilroy, CA 95020 or mail them to:
P.O. Box 233, Gilroy, CA 95021
-People can also visit www.gccsoco.org to donate through the Center’s website via PayPal. They should include a memo explaining the money is for the Capital Campaign.
