GALESBURG, Ill. — The Galesburg Rescue Mission (GRM) has won a bid to purchase Katherine Nielson Elementary, allowing the shelter to move into a bigger space and add on a wing entirely for families.
"With this, I think it's just, it's inevitable that we will be able to do more. Do more, be more," said Renee Galvin, executive director of the shelter.
On Monday, April 4, the district board of education unanimously voted to approve the shelter's bid of $100,100 over a smaller offer.
Nielson Elementary is all one level and about 41,000 square feet, Galvin said. She estimates that it will be nearly quadruple the space of the shelter's current facility and said that the extra room will allow GRM to establish a dormitory specifically for families, which is not offered at the moment.
It will need a new roof, sprinkler system, fire doors and a few window replacements in the eventual sleeping areas, but Galvin says those repairs are much more attainable than renovating the shelter's current facility.
GRM estimates it'll be able to move into Nielson Elementary around fall 2023.
Before then, the nonprofit will need to raise about $1.2 million for the repairs and moving expenses.
"We're excited to be able to get through each one of these stages and just do what we're called to do," Galvin said.
Right now, GRM is housed in an even older school building on the city's south side. The crumbling space has been home to the shelter since the 1960s, but Galvin says repairs are badly needed.
Water has seeped through several of the building's walls, creating discoloration and mold. The chimney needs to be replaced, as do all of the windows and several of the walls; air conditioning needs to be installed; there's not enough space to accommodate all of the shelter's clients; and bathrooms as well as the entire men's wing are on the second floor, making it impossible for GRM to house anyone unable to make it up a flight of stairs.
"A lot of these problems with the structure and foundation will require way more money than what we have to put it in," Galvin admitted.
She says turning people away is one of the hardest parts of her job.
"When there's people that come in that can't maneuver steps, we have to tell them they can't stay here," she said. "We have seen families come in that we have had to tell you're going to separate or you can't stay here because you have a son that's 12 to 17 years old and we have no place to put them. That hurts because the need is there. And we're supposed to fill it, right?"
On average, the shelter houses 30 people a night, but space is limited. Upstairs, the men's beds are filled and some clients are forced to sleep on chairs.
"So with this new building, that checks all those boxes of being able to accommodate more needs in this community," Galvin said.
The shelter isn't sure what it will do with the building it's currently housed in, but Galvin said there's been plenty of ideas thrown about. Eventually, she even dreams of consolidating all of GRM's ministries and buildings into the space at Nielson but says the final plans will be revealed at a later date.