Valparaiso’s new Daybreak homeless shelter could begin operating as soon as this week, Respite House founder and board member Mitch Peters said.
On Saturday, a portion of the new $3.5 million building was opened for emergency overnight shelter. People check in between 7 and 8 p.m. — registration is required — and leave at 7 a.m.
For Peters, his ex-wife Lita and son Ryan, the shelter is a labor of love. Lita serves as Respite House Foundation executive director and Ryan as board president.
For 16 years, homeless men have shuffled from church to church for overnight shelter during cold months, Ryan Peters said.
“It’s a full-time job moving from location to location,” he said.
Planning for the 9,600-square-foot shelter began about two years ago, he said.
It’s a two-story building with dormitory-style housing for up to 24 men on one side. Each room has six beds with bedbug-proof mattresses and a footlocker for personal effects.
There’s a communal restroom and shower area with lockers for the men to use.
Already, Daybreak’s first floor will be full as soon as the city issues an occupancy permit, Mitch Peters said.
The idea is for the men to get back on their feet in six months or so, then move out to allow another homeless man to move in. “We’re not kicking people out. We’re trying to move them out” with a support system in place, Ryan Peters said.
A day room at the center of the building will allow homeless people from either side — the emergency overnight shelter or the temporary housing for men — to gather for meals and for social services aimed at helping them get the support they need to get a job, permanent housing and health care, he said.
Respite House is partnering with Porter-Starke Services and HealthLinc to provide those services, Ryan Peters said.
A commercial kitchen is being set up and will have to undergo an inspection by the Porter County Health Department before it can begin being used. In the interim, volunteers at local churches are set to provide meals.
Volunteers will still be needed even once the kitchen is operational. Just as volunteers have been on hand when the homeless men were sheltered overnight at churches, volunteers will be needed at Daybreak to serve as overnight hosts for the emergency shelter.
Four live-in staff will also be on call.
Mitch Peters credits the city, Tonn and Blank, and others for their generosity.
The $300,000 HVAC system was donated, and Tonn and Blank raised $1.6 million — about half the cost of the building. Franciscan Health donated furnishings from the old Crown Point hospital. Ladybug Cleaners donated the commercial washers and dryers. Trailyard donated pots, pans and other kitchen supplies when the restaurant closed. The city provided a five-year lease for the land, after which Respite House can petition for ownership to be transferred. The list of benefactors goes on and on.
“It took some time, but we’re almost open,” Ryan Peters said.
Daybreak is aimed at serving men in its temporary housing. Other shelters serve women.
However, the emergency overnight shelter has two rooms for women with children, he said.
That room has radiant, in-floor heating. The building has solar panels on the roof to help reduce utility costs.
Valparaiso’s V-Line buses operate on a fixed route, but a demand-response service is also available, so a bus can pick up the men in the morning and take them where they need to go, Ryan Peters said.
PACT’s Recovery Connection facility is across the street.
Respite House operates Daybreak although New Creation initiated the effort to house homeless men. Respite House’s board absorbed New Creation’s board after Respite House approached New Creation to not step on the other nonprofit’s toes. Respite House operates recovery houses in Valparaiso, so it has some experience with sheltering people in temporary housing.
New Creation will continue to operate the resale shop on Calumet Avenue.
“At least it’s some type of income,” Ryan Peters said.
At Respite House’s other properties, the clients pay rent. That won’t be the case at Daybreak, where the clients can’t afford it.
Ryan Peters said there are about 30 to 50 homeless people in Valparaiso at any given time. “It could be just a guy who lost his job and now he can’t pay rent,” he said.
“We need need volunteers. We need supplies. We need donations,” Mitch Peters said.
Shawn Blank, volunteer coordinator and board member, said 168 people are signed up to volunteer with the warming shelter.
People who want to help with time, talent or financial contributions can visit daybreakvalpo.org.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
