Mundy Twp. — The Fenton Center of Hope (COH) is moving into a larger location with space for short-term and transitional housing.
Bob Strygulec, co-director of the food pantry and baby closet, described it as a “miracle.”
The COH is setting up operations off N. Fenton Road near Camp Copneconic, in a complex of four buildings. This was made possible by partnering with the Niles Foundation,
The COH is going from a 1,500 square foot space off Shiawassee Avenue to managing more than 30,000 square feet of space with the four buildings combined. The baby closet, food pantry, classrooms, counseling, and offices will now be housed in the main building on the complex.
Having all these services in one location will allow the COH to help more efficiently.
The most significant addition to COH services is the short-term emergency housing and transitional housing. Mothers will be able to take their children here to escape a bad situation, along with other people who fall on hard times and need help, Strygulec said.
“That was our big dream when we started saying what is the next phase of Center of Hope?” Strygulec said. “How do we help somebody that is that young mom or whoever in a parking lot that needs somewhere to go?”
This will be the first homeless shelter in southern Genesee County and all of bordering Livingston County, he said. There are organizations that will pay for people to stay in motels, but there isn’t yet a dedicated shelter for people struggling with homelessness. The first of three buildings to be open for short-term or transitional housing is the one closest to the road, which they’re hoping will be ready for people in the spring of 2022.
“We’ll have people on staff in that building all the time, 24 hours a day,” he said. “You will figure out what your next step is, whether it’s getting a job, fixing a car, whatever it is.”
The transitional housing will be available for people coming out of rehab and overcoming addiction.
“They’re starting their life over,” Strygulec said. “They’ve got court costs to pay. They’ve got fines. Maybe their car doesn’t work. They don’t have savings, they don’t have money to put down for a down payment.”
They’re bringing in experts who have run transitional housing programs in other states to run this one. When people leave this housing, COH wants to make sure they have money saved, a car, a job and support.
Each house is a little larger than 7,000 square feet. Strygulec said the
second house needs the most work and will require a couple hundred thousand dollars. After March, they will begin work on the third house and hope to have it up and ready by fall of 2022.
They plan on applying for grants to help fund the project. Strygulec said some of the buildings were previously used as a group home.
The COH expected to have to shut down for a few months at the beginning of the new year while they found a new location. Then they found out about this opportunity in October. Strygulec said it’s been “such a blur” suddenly doing all this work to set up in a new location.
“The recognition and the awareness and the visibility from Fenton Road has been huge. We can almost tell anybody that’s lived around here for a while that we’re located in front of Camp Copneconic and they know where it is,” he said.
The COH is still operating out of the old location on Shiawassee Avenue. They will shut down over the holidays and expect the new facility to be open the first week of January.
They have a large volunteer base that’s helping, but the size and scope of the project will require more people. They’re hoping to find contractors and trade workers to help.
Their three-to-six month goal is to raise a little more than $100,000. They’re not currently accepting secondhand furniture or other items. They are accepting volunteers and money.
Strygulec said Ryan Niles from Niles Foundation wants the people who seek help at COH to strive for excellence.
“He’s got a heart to help for the community. He believes in what we’re doing,” Strygulec said. “Somebody might say they don’t deserve getting what you’re giving them, whether it’s food or a nice room, like you say, ‘well, they screwed up, they did drugs, they’re an alcoholic. It’s looking past all that and actually saying they deserve God’s best and then let’s make sure that they have a path to success.”
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson congratulated the COH on its move. He said he’s watched Bob and Jen Strygulec work through a concept and an idea at the Freedom Center that turned into a fully operational food pantry independent of the church.
“Now, they are a full-fledged outreach that can take care of so many issues that people don’t realize that are in Fenton Linden, Argentine Holly and that is homelessness, poverty, addictions and they’re doing it,” Swanson said.
The COH was the main base of operations in the network of churches that delivered food to people during the pandemic.
“That’s the love that people have for serving others getting rewarded,” he said. Swanson said they’ve been working with the COH for years in getting people help and he expects to work with them more in the future.
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December 04, 2021 at 02:17AM
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Center of Hope preparing new location | News for Fenton, Linden, Holly MI | tctimes.com - Fenton Tri County Times
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