NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A ‘home for hope’ will soon be under construction in Newport News.
The Peninsula Rescue Mission Women’s Ministry is a new shelter for single, unmarried or women without children.
“Back in 2020, we began asking the big question, ‘how can we better serve our community?’ We’ve been serving men for 58 years, since the mission opened in ’66. We just knew it was time to do more,” said Rev. Alan DeFriese, Peninsula Rescue Mission, Inc. president and CEO. “We did our research. We determined the greatest unmet need was for shelter and help for unaccompanied women. By that, we mean women who are not married and who do not have any children.”
In 2021, the Peninsula Rescue Mission board announced the plan to expand and offer resources to women.
“There was some opposition,” DeFriese said. “We were told at one point this probably would not happen. [Then] City Council ultimately voted unanimously in favor of this project. That gave us the green light to move forward.”
At 10:30 a.m. on June 28, all are invited for a ‘Renovation Kickoff celebration.’
The three-story building at 9308 Warwick Boulevard was once the BayPort Credit Union call center.
The tentative floor plan shown to WAVY.com has the first floor housing the ministry staff offices, a commercial kitchen, dining hall and chapel. The second floor will have 20 beds available, with two women living in each room, along with two staff rooms to provide 24-hour staff presence in the building. The second floor will also contain a community bathroom, a laundry facility and some common areas. The third floor will be the administrative offices.
“The rooms are going to be nice,” DeFriese said. “Everyone has a window. We really do want it to feel like home for the season that they’re with us. We are just days away from renovation beginning, and by the end of the year, first quarter of next year, this facility … we pray, will be operational and meeting a great, great need in the community.”
The organizers of the shelter are calling on the community to help it raise money to help with the renovations since the cost totals about $2.8 million.
“We’re looking to break the cycle so that their children and their children never experience homelessness,” DeFriese said. “That’s the bigger goal. We are just so thankful that God brought us to this building has enabled us to purchase it.”
Sha’ Simmons, a longtime volunteer with Calvary Chapel, is now a member of the Peninsula Rescue Women’s Mission Board and said the new shelter will be a safe haven.
“It will be a place where we just know when they come in, they’re going to feel loved, they’re going to feel safe, they’re going to feel secure even more so being a woman that might have been on the streets, they haven’t felt secure in a long time,” Simmons said.
The women will have to go through a lengthy interview process to determine if they want to participate in the program.
“We imagine there are some ladies that are going to come,” Simmons said. “They are going to be highly skilled. They’ll have a good résumé and their just life just got hard for a short season and they’re only going to need a month or two with us just to get their feet under them, perhaps the next job. Then we will watch them transition very quickly.
“Others will likely need a couple of months just to recover from the trauma that they’ve experienced out there, doing whatever they’ve needed to do to survive. … We will enjoy the the opportunity to tailor the program to each individual lady. We really can’t imagine the stories we’re going to hear.”
To donate to Peninsula Rescue Mission, go to prm.info/donate-now.
