BUTTE — With plenty of elbow grease and a lot of generous donations, they were able to transform this century-old warehouse into a community center that’s going to help Butte’s most vulnerable.
“This building was built in 1900, so it’s a very old building, but look at it now, it’s beautiful, and everybody feels better about themselves when they’re in beautiful spaces,” Butte Rescue Mission Director Brayton Erickson said.
WATCH: Butte warehouse becomes community center helping vulnerable residents
The old warehouse at the Rescue Mission’s shelter now looks like this after the mission received $300,000 from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This helped the shelter complete the early $3 million project, thanks to many other donations.
“I mean, we probably had eight or nine foundations that were critical in getting us from just the dream of this thing to funding the whole project,” Erickson said.
The Center of Hope will give the shelter extra space, have a much bigger kitchen to serve more people, and also provide necessary services to help those in need get back on their feet.
“Let’s take care of their mental health issues, let’s take care of their food insecurity, let’s take care of their clothing, I mean, you can’t go to a job interview if your clothes are all ripped up and you smell bad. Let’s take care of that,” Erickson said.
This room is a library and community space, this is a restroom, this is additional office space, and over here is a health care room, and this is an administrative office.
“This is an area where all of the service organizations and community partners can meet people where they’re at,” Erickson said.
Corey Plute, who is painting the center for Mile High Painting, said, “It’s come along good, it’s good for the community and the people who really need the support in this town."
As construction continues, the center is expected to be fully operational by late March.
