The Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties is filling in food gaps for its residents.
On Monday the organization received $10,000 to provide meals, including hot dinners, to shelter residents; $5,000 came from the county and $5,000 from the FirstEnergy Foundation. Check presentations were made prior to Monday’s Summit County Council meeting.
The new shelter — a renovated former nursing home in Akron — will open without a kitchen, which is still under construction. Steel for the new addition went up on Monday.
“This is a critical organization for our community,” County Executive Ilene Shapiro said.
As many as 74 residents from soon-to-be closed shelters will begin moving in in several weeks; however, hot meals cannot be prepared at the shelter until the kitchen is completed and passes inspections. That process may take until mid-May.
Many people, groups and businesses have stepped up in recent weeks to provide meals, said Terri Heckman, chief executive officer of the shelter.
“There are gaps remaining,” she said. Shelter needs include people to help provide lunches, as well as donations of goods like breakfast cereal and granola bars, Heckman said.
The new site, called the Center for Hope and Healing, will have 154 beds to provide a safe place for victims of domestic violence and abuse.
About half of the people who come to the soon-to-be-closed shelters return to their homes in a week, while others stay at the shelter as long as 120 days, Heckman said. Shelter residents get help with counseling, parenting skills, job training and more.
“We want them to be self-sufficient when they leave,” she said. The program provided 23,000 nights of shelter last year. The organization, which owns its own property and is debt free, raised about $2 million to renovate the former nursing home, Heckman said.
The program is closing down two smaller, outdated shelters and moving residents into the more spacious — and more private — former nursing home.
The county’s $5,000 will go to United Disability Services of Akron, which has a catering service called Taste Buds that will make hot dinners for shelter residents. UDS provides jobs and services to local residents who have mild to severe disabilities. The $5,000 from the FirstEnergy Foundation will be used to buy fresh produce, such as salads and fruit.
For people who need its services, the shelter hotline is 330-374-1111.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ