Turlock OKs homeless day center. But what of Gospel Mission’s shuttered facility?
Turlock’s homeless residents could have another place to go during weekdays to access services, hang out and use a bathroom. The City Council last week approved having the nonprofit We Care program operate a day center in a six-month pilot program.
The center is proposed to be in a nearly 6,000-square-foot building at 275 Third St. in downtown. It is behind United Samaritan Foundation’s main facility and USF owns the building.
Council members voted 4-1 on April 25 to approve the pilot program and spend $178,220 to operate it. The money will come from the city agency that succeeded the city’s redevelopment agency. Mayor Amy Bublak cast the opposing vote.
We Care Program Turlock Executive Director Maris Sturtevant said she anticipates the day center will open June 5. We Care also operates a 49-bed men’s shelter near the day center.
The council vote comes as the city has not completed its renovation of the Turlock Gospel Mission’s day center at Broadway and D Street in downtown. Mission Executive Director Christian Curby said in an interview last week that the city closed the center in winter 2019 for the renovation.
Curby said he was not aware of the We Care day center project and has not been able to get answers from the city on when the renovation of the mission’s center will be completed.
“If they are going to open another day center, I’d love for them to complete the one they’ve got,” Curby said last week. The delay comes as Turlock has undergone a huge turnover among its city staff and weathered the pandemic.
Curby said the Gospel Mission’s center drew about 100 people a day before it closed. He said the mission has been operating a temporary day center in its pavilion that serves about three dozen people a day. Curby said people can receive services, get something to eat and bring their pets.
City Council members and city staff did not discuss the Gospel Mission’s day center last week when the council approved the We Care pilot program.
When asked by email how having two day centers would work, City Manager Reagan Wilson said “the capacity of both centers substantially addresses the daytime homeless.”
Wilson, who became city manager in February 2022, said in another email that Turlock has committed about $300,000 for the Gospel Mission day center renovation.
He said city staff has identified a potential funding source to finish the renovation. The environmental review, comment period and documentation required for the funding source has been completed and he expects the City Council will consider the project in late May or early June.
The We Care day center is expected to operate 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Clients cannot have pets. Sturtevant said the limited hours and barring of pets reflects the need to get the center up and running and the limitations of its funding.
She said the day center closing at 3 p.m. allows We Care staff time to set it up for serving dinner to its shelter clients. We Care has been doing that for about eight months as the work continues on building a new kitchen and dining room for shelter clients. The kitchen and dining room had been housed in a building next to the shelter. We Care relies on community members to bring in dinner while it does not have a kitchen.
The services at the day center include help finding housing. Day center clients also can receive case management and counseling. Sturtevant said clients also can use the center’s wi-fi, watch TV, charge their phones and use a computer.
We Care will pay United Samaritans an estimated $46,000 over the six months for rent, utilities, janitorial services and an alarm system, according to a budget proposal that was part the proposal the City Council approved last week.
United Samaritans Executive Director Linda Murphy-Julien said in a text last week that her board needed more information about the pilot program before voting to let it operate in the United Samaritans building.
This story was originally published May 2, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
