VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A local organization that saves trafficked, abused, and homeless children is on the move to a new piece of property, after its lease was not renewed in the midst of the pandemic. It’s an amazing opportunity, but with it comes a tight deadline to raise funds to bring a building up to code by the end of August.
“We believe this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Seton Youth Shelters,” said Jennifer Sieracki, Executive Director of Seton Youth Shelters.
One week ago today, Seton Youth Shelters got the keys to its future in Virginia Beach. It’s a new campus where the non-profit can finally house its boys’ shelter, girls’ shelter, and administrative offices all on one property.
“We never thought we would see this day. We simply did not have on our radar an opportunity to do this, certainly not in this time frame. This is a dream we’ve talked about for many years but just did not have the means to accomplish. So, through the uncertainty and hardship of the last year came this opportunity for us to grow and evolve in a way that we couldn’t have foreseen 12 months ago. It’s a game changer. It’s a life changer in the life of our organization,” said Sieracki.
Here’s the deal, they have to be out of their old property when their lease ends August 31. That means an old church building on the new property, where they will house the boys for now, needs major repairs to bring it up to code.
“We estimate the cost of that to be $50,000 or $60,000. So, we do hope the community may consider supporting us through this renovation period so that we can serve the boys through our boys house without interruption.”
It is imperative to make the transition seamless for the children who have already been through so much, but the future for Seton is looking bright thanks to hard work and a generous community.
“We are so excited now to be able to enhance our services and provide even more critical support for boys and girls all over the region no matter what time of the day or night, holidays, weekends, we will be here, and we will be better able to provide for them, council and support them, through our new campus project,” Sieracki said.
If you would like to donate to help Seton Youth Shelters bring the building up to code before the August 31 deadline, or to help the organization raise funds to complete the multi-million project to renovate and build its new campus, click here.
