Beaman Home celebrated a grand opening Tuesday of its new Emergency Shelter and Outreach Center, and used the opportunity to announce it had secured funding to complete interior construction of its second floor.
Tracie Hodson, executive director of Beaman Home, made the announcement during a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the new facility’s entrance at 603 N. Parker St., Warsaw.
Dozens of community leaders and many associated with Beaman House attended the open house and applauded the news.
“Beaman Home, in partnership with Lake City Bank, has been awarded a construction grant of over $202,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis,” Hodson told guests.
That brings the total amount of funding collected for the project to more than $2 million, she said.
The announcement was icing on the cake for a group that’s been in the community for 30 years and working for five years to open a new facility that can accommodate its expanded approach to assisting victims and their families.
Beaman has been using its administrative offices for a few months and will begin housing abuse victims in the near future.
While the first floor is complete, the donation will allow for the interior construction that will include more rooms for residents.
When complete, the shelter will have 11 rooms and 38 beds.
Hodson said the effort to open a new facility overcame doubters who thought the plan was too ambitious, but credited an “incredibly benevolent community” and a board of directors that remained focused on the goal.
Hodson said they recognize the gravity and necessity of providing services to abuse victims.
“As victims make their journey to survivorship, we are honored to walk beside them and provide them with the support and resources they need to come out of the darkness and into the light of freedom,” Hodson said.
Among those attending the ribbon-cutting and open house was Holly Swoverland, grant coordinator for K21 Health Foundation, which provided funding for a state-of-the-art security system.
“There’s no point in the women being here if they can’t be safe so it was important to our board that they have state of the art security,” Swoverland said. “We wish this didn’t have to be here, but it is, so we want to be able to be a part of keeping women and residents safe.”
Hodson also thanked the steering committee and more than 200 donors, but shined a special light on Sue Creighton, who has been involved off and on for 30 years with Beaman Home and was there when the original Beaman facility – a single-family home – began serving the community in 1985.
“Her leadership and absolute commitment to the families we serve have had a deeply profound impact … Volunteering nearly 2,000 hours over the last five years, Sue was the key to our behind-the-scenes success,” Hodson said.
Creighton is a longtime member of the Warsaw Altrusa Club, which founded the Beaman Home 31 years ago.
After the ribbon-cutting, Creighton led tours of the building.
Last week, Creighton talked about the excitement of finally moving into a new facility while also reflecting on the past.
“I was there when they put the beds in the old place,” Creighton she said last week as she applied film to windows for security purposes.
“I knew we’d get here. I just didn’t think it would take so long,” she said. SPAULDING
“It’s still hard to
