LAKEPORT, Calif. – After a two-week delay in its opening triggered by a funding shortfall, the Lake Ministerial Association announced Sunday that its warming center for the homeless would open on Monday.
This is the third year for the center, which will once again be located at the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Park Way in Lakeport.
The center will be open Monday through Friday, 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
The association said it can house up to 24 individuals at the center each night, based on county rules.
Clients can check in at the bus stop at the old Natural High School, opposite St. Mary’s, in Lakeport, where volunteers will begin the intake procedure and a Lake Transit bus will transport them to the center.
Last week, the city of Lakeport began installing a new bus shelter at the Natural High site, which the association said means that it will have a covered, lighted area where visitors and volunteers can wait for the warming center bus.
Services offered to clients at the warming center will include a warm, safe place to sleep; dinner and breakfast; hot showers; laundry assistance; obtaining valid IDs; computer and WiFi access for job training and housing searches; and family reunification mediation. Pets are welcome; designated areas have been set up to house them.
Originally, the center had planned to open on Dec. 4, as long as it had 25 percent – or $12,000 – of its annual operating costs in hand.
However, it had only about a quarter of the amount it needed at that point, so the association pushed back the opening by two weeks, as Lake County News
On Sunday, the association reported that, thanks to “some very generous individuals,” it had raised just over $11,300 and could move forward with opening.
However, the association said it is still in a budget shortfall and needs a minimum of $16,000 to be fully funded through the 2017-18 warming center season. The center is slated to remain open until March 30.
Donations can be sent to Kelseyville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 446, Kelseyville, CA 95451 (write Warming Center on the memo line).
For more information about the center email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or follow the center on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LMAwarmingcenter/.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Lake Ministerial Association Warming Center to open Dec. 18
- Elizabeth Larson
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