New homeless shelter to be housed downtown

Work is in progress for a new shelter that will help aid the homeless in the Macon and Bibb County area.
The Daybreak Center will be a daytime shelter for about 300 to 500 people. The shelter will provide help with job hunting, medical care, and mental health services.
Sister Elizabeth Greim, the director, partnered with DePaul USA, a Philadelphia non-profit organization, to open the shelter. DePaul USA is working toward a national response to homelessness, and the Daybreak Center in Macon is of their first projects outside of Pennsylvania.
Greim, who is a women of Bless These Hands, a collaboration of churches on High Street, is excited to build this refuge for those who often have nowhere to turn.
After taking to the homeless of Macon she asked many what do they do during the day or where do they go. Many replied that they roam or hang around the street corners, travel from place to place in search of a place to stay at night, or search for necessities such as food and clothing to survive.
The future home of Daybreak is an old warehouse located on Walnut Street, right before the entrance to Central City Park. It is an empty building with a sting of small offices, which Greim says will be constructed in to the medical and mental health clinics.
Toward the back of the build is a large area that is planned to hold washing and drying machines along with showers.
A separate area will hold a number of computers to aid with job searching and résumé coaching. There will also be opportunities for people to donate toiletries, socks, food, towels, and underwear.
Volunteers will also be needed to staff the center and keep it running. The center also wants to foster a relationship between the people who need help and successful people who have found their way out of homelessness.
The intended atmosphere is eye-to-eye assistance, not an attitude of volunteers looking down their noses at the people who come to them for assistance.
The estimated cost for the building plus renovations is around $175, 000.
So far Greim said they have partnered with a number of religious groups in Macon to help and support the operating cost. They are also looking for contractors that are willing to donate their time and services, or materials.
Cash donations are also needed.
The projected opening and operating goal is next summer.
The most recent support for the center came from the community presenting a $20 benefit performance on Dec. 6.
Many supporters and hopeful clients gathered together to announce and kick off the capital campaign for the center.
Other leading such as Chuck Levesque, the director of DePaul, have been overwhelmed by the love and dedication of the local volunteers.
This will is seen as a wonderful opportunity for Macon to be an example to similar cities by coming together and caring for the other people who live in your own community. The center itself will be a great contribution to Middle Georgia.