Life Hub Finds a Home in Downtown Wheeling
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WHEELING -- The Life Hub in Wheeling is no longer operating without a home.
The nonprofit partnership aimed at addressing the city's challenges with a growing homeless population on Tuesday announced it has purchased the First English Lutheran Church on 16th Street in downtown Wheeling.
Officials with the Life Hub said the purchase was completed on Friday, and now a goal is utilize the site to house a low-barrier homeless shelter that will operate around the clock every day of the year while providing a medical respite and "wraparound services" in collaboration with existing nonprofit agencies serving the homeless. That project, they said, will likely take years to complete.
Melissa Adams, the city of Wheeling's homeless liaison, said the church was purchased for $325,000.
"It was all from private donations," she said Tuesday. "I'm just excited."
Adams noted that the congregation from the First English Lutheran Church had a diminishing number of members to the point they decided to join with another Lutheran church in South Wheeling and sell the downtown building. Plans have been in the works for months to buy the church building, which is in a perfect location, according to Adams.
"Purchasing the First English Lutheran Church property is such a blessing," she said. "Having a structure and property now enables the Life Hub to move forward in planning the shelter, the medical services and the wraparound care coordination."
The church is located at the corner of 16th and Chapline streets between West Virginia Independence Hall and the City-County Building. The church is across the street from the future location of Helping Heroes, which is renovating the former Columbia Gas building on 16th street to provide a variety of services for veterans in need. It is one block away from The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling and is very near Catholic Charities and other organizations that provide services to the homeless.
"The Wheeling area has been blessed with several social service agencies and faith-based communities dedicated to providing resources within their mission to assist the poor and homeless," Adams said. "The Life Hub is already providing care coordination services to support local nonprofits in preventing homelessness and crisis situations for individuals and families in the Wheeling area."
Adams noted that the Life Hub through the help of its partnerships and $300,000 worth of donations last year was able to operate a winter freeze shelter this past winter season. They used space provided by Catholic Charities of West Virginia at its Main Street facility in Center Wheeling.
The winter freeze shelter cost about $100,000 during the three winter months, and there were eight employees who worked there as part of a fully trained staff.
This winter, officials with the Life Hub intend to raise additional money and operate the winter freeze shelter out of their new location in the church building. A long-term plan is to offer services out of the central location of the church building, but as far as the low-barrier shelter goes, the plan is to construct housing with approximately 30 units in the area that is currently the parking lot of the church. Adams said this is a long-term goal that may likely take up to three years to complete, but plans are already in the works for the shelter.
"We look forward to moving the entire project forward," said Joyce Wolen, Wheeling Housing Authority Executive Director. "Wheeling Housing Authority and the city of Wheeling bring an innovative approach in working together to serve the homeless. We hope to become a model for other projects in the state and around the country in showing how important it is to have many community partners supporting the efforts."
Wolen said the Wheeling Housing Authority will provide guidance to the Life Hub on issues related to property management and managing the fiscal accountability of the project.
John Moses, who has been a leader in the community working with social service agencies over the past 45 years, was part of the Life Hub leadership team and managed the winter freeze shelter last year.
"I typically am not at a loss for words," Moses said. "It has been a long, emotional journey to get to today. The Ohio Valley has a heart for our most vulnerable neighbors."
Officials noted that donations from anonymous individuals and private foundations helped make the purchase of the church property possible.
"Rest assured, we will be good stewards of the generosity in moving this entire project forward," Moses said.
Life Hub officials have indicated the need to provide the kind of services offered at the winter freeze shelter and more on a year-round basis. The goal is to get individuals out of tents and into transitional housing in a central location that provides a variety of resources individuals need to help break the cycle of homelessness.
Another member of the Life Hub's leadership team, George Smoulder served the community for more than 40 years as executive director of Catholic Charities and the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. He is currently a deacon in the Catholic church.
"We've needed a low barrier homeless shelter year-round in our community for many years," said Smoulder. "Our shelter will not only treat each person with the respect and dignity they deserve -- but will help them take the steps they desire to live an independent way of life. It will also help us work with individuals and families living in our community to prevent them from ever becoming homeless."
Adams has noted that a great deal of her focus as of late has been with preventative measures - working with at-risk individuals to help prevent them from becoming homeless.
Officials said the next phase in the Life Hub's efforts will be to continue seeking funds. Adams recently asked city officials to consider using some of the remainder of Wheeling's federal pandemic relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act to help the efforts.
Now that the building has been purchased, the team is exploring options for historic and new market tax credits and efforts to secure local, state and federal funding to help bring the long-term project to fruition.
"With the guidance of Dr. William Mercer, a local physician who is recognized internationally for his street medicine work with Project Hope, the Life Hub is ready to begin planning with health care groups and the state to ensure the medical component of this project is up and running in a timely fashion," Adams said. "It is a critical piece to the homelessness initiatives. Funding will enable the Life Hub to engage in the coordinated plan for medical services and medical respite. Defining billable services will be instrumental in the long-term sustainability of this project."
The Life Hub is accepting donations. Checks may be made out to the Life Hub and mailed to P.O. Box 2089, Wheeling, WV 26003. A website landing page also has been launched. Electronic donations will be accepted on the landing page beginning in mid-June at lifehubwv.org.