by EMILY MELTON
News Reporter

The Hospitality House, the only homeless shelter in Boone, is also the only homeless shelter in the area’s seven-county region.

Because the number of homeless residents in the region continues to increase, construction of a bigger facility has been mapped.

“Giving Hope a Hand,” the campaign to raise funds for the project, just entered its third month of fundraising.

The purpose of the campaign is to build a more adequate facility for the homeless.

John E. Cooper, Jr., president of the campaign and Mast General Store, Inc. said the campaign has raised $1.74 million so far.

It has received its funding from donations and business partnerships.

Cooper hopes to have $3 million for the campaign by the end of the year, which would then allow planners to begin construction of the facility.

He said the project will receive $2 million through state-funded grants, and the facility is expected to be completed in June 2011.

“The main Hospitality House structure was never meant to be a homeless shelter,” Cooper said. “Ninety-one years ago, it was built for residency.”

The current facility has room for only 35 beds, and turns people away regularly.

Cooper said he expects an increase in the amount of homeless people in the area, considering the approaching winter and the state of the current economy.

“So we need to do a better job of providing shelter for the homeless,” Cooper said. “The current facility is beyond capacity.”

According to data collected by the Hospitality House, the organization now provides over 150 meals each day of the year.

However, because of the increase in the amount of homelessness, more services are required.

The new facility will allow 62 beds with additional rooms if more sleeping space is needed.

It will also allow separate sleeping spaces for men and women.

The new facility will be located off Bamboo Road on the land adjacent to the Health & Hunger Coalition and near Catawba Valley Community College.

“The Giving Hope a Hand campaign allows the whole community to get involved,” Ann P. Spinetto, publicity director of the Hospitality House said. “If everyone who knows where they’re going to sleep tonight and knows they’ll have food on the table would donate a little of what they have, it would help tremendously.”

She said the current shelter is crammed to capacity.

“The new facility will have rooms with Internet access and a kitchen for training residents to go out and get back on their feet,” Spinetto said.

She said the new facility will also allow more space and more opportunities for outreach.

“If the ASU child development center wanted to come to put on a program about parenting skills, for example, they’d be able to,” Spinetto said.

Gerry E. Richardson, a volunteer for the Hospitality House has spent the past year volunteering at the shelter two mornings each week.

He believes the project will significantly help collect funds for the organization.

“A new facility will allow the Hospitality House to provide care and shelter for a greater number of individuals,” Richardson said.

He said there is no way to fully serve the demand for housing, but the new shelter will allow more homeless to be served.

Richardson volunteers because he feels it fulfills his civic duty.

“I am disabled, and I was once homeless,” Richardson said.

He said the kindness of the community helped him overcome the hard times he went through.

“Reaching out to the area’s Social Services was like reaching out to friends, and volunteering has allowed me to give back to the community that gave so much to me,” he said.

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