Metro Pulse/Insights/Volunteer Ministry Center

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by Joe Sullivan

Editor's Note: Joe Sullivan is a board member of the Volunteer Ministry Center.

The Volunteer Ministry Center has outgrown its present home at the corner of Gay and Jackson and is pointing toward relocation to a larger new facility.

Several initiatives on VMC's part have contributed to the need for additional space to support augmented assistance to the homeless population that it serves. At the same time, conditions in its present building have deteriorated to the point that its renovation might cost nearly as much as the new facility that's envisioned—without gaining VMC the added space it seeks.

As a day shelter established to complement other missions that offer the homeless a roof over their heads at night, VMC has traditionally just provided its deeply-troubled clientele with a place to find refuge between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. But under the leadership of its aspiring executive director, Ginny Weatherstone, VMC is now striving to offer a support program to help those who are prepared to make a commitment to work their way out of homelessness.

Of the 130 or so daily visitors that VMC gets on average, 30 have entered into this program, and there's a waiting list for entry. As an inducement to participate, those who do so get more amenities than those who simply congregate at the shelter. These include access to a lounge with a television set, lockers, a washing machine, and a shower. Participants get individualized and group counseling from two case managers and a licensed clinical social worker. These clients also have access to a psychiatric nurse practitioner who is supervised by a psychiatrist from the Helen Ross McNabb Center. (About half of VMC's clients are mentally ill and 75 percent have substance dependencies, Weatherstone estimates.)

But VMC lacks space for counseling rooms, a classroom, and a sheltered workshop to support its efforts. "A lot of our people are unemployable, but they need to work as a step toward self-sufficiency, and there's no room for work space in our present building," Weatherstone laments.

VMC also provides housing for a population quite distinct from those served by Knoxville's two large residential shelters, Knox Area Rescue Ministries and The Salvation Army. Where KARM offers bunk beds in a dormitory to a more or less transient population, VMC provides small individual apartments on a one-year lease to men in need of more stability. Their rent is subsidized by Knoxville's Community Development Corp. because, by and large, they are ineligible for KCDC's public housing programs due to prior criminal convictions, mostly for drug offenses. "We tend to house people who are mentally ill as well as substance abusers who couldn't cope well in a program that is aimed at moving people out," says Weatherstone.

VMC's expansion plans call for increasing the number of units for men from 16 to 25 and also building 12 single resident occupancy units (SRO's) for women. The need for women's housing has been accentuated by the recent closing of the Volunteers of America mission on Magnolia, which was a women's shelter. "The SRO's are a wonderful way of getting people off the streets and into a more stable lifestyle," says KCDC's Debbie Summer. The Federal Home Loan Bank has earmarked grant money for construction of more units, but more space is needed first.

The Cornerstone Foundation has been a good officer in helping VMC acquire expanded quarters. These relocation plans are now focused on a building recently vacated by KARM on Broadway and an adjoining lot, both of which are bounded by Old Gray Cemetery. KARM has opened a $6 million new facility one block to the South on the opposite side of Broadway. "We have negotiated an option to purchase their previous building and the adjacent lot," reports Cornerstone's president, Laurens Tullock. "It's being obtained to allow VMC time to hopefully complete a successful fund-raising campaign for renovation and an addition to the building." Drawings for a facility significantly larger than VMC's present 18,000-square-foot building, have been prepared by architect Duane Grieve.

Concern has been expressed in some quarters about concentrating all of Knoxville's homeless shelters in a small area on Broadway where the Salvation Army also resides. Tullock acknowledges this concern but goes on to say that, "There was an extensive look at the pros and cons of whether a day shelter would be better off in close proximity with the others by homeless service providers and city officials. The conclusion was that proximity is desirable from every standpoint—security, transportation, provision of services, and health of the surrounding area."

Preparing for a fund-raising campaign is now the VMC's top priority. A Charlotte-based firm, First Counsel, has been retained to guide these efforts, following completion of an encouraging feasibility study. No determination of the size or timing of the campaign will be made, however, until a steering committee has been established and made sufficient headway to warrant going public.

Concern for the homeless should be harnessed in conjunction with furthering the cause of downtown revitalization as driving forces in this campaign. The 100 block of Gay Street is making strides towards becoming a showcase with restorations of historic buildings underway that will beget more than 150 residential units. But the presence of the VMC on its northwest corner represents a deterrent to the realization of the block's full potential, as well to restoration of the McClung Warehouses on Jackson Avenue to the west.

Churches banded together in the Knoxville's Inner City Churches United for People (KICCUP) were instrumental in getting VMC started. While its support has grown more diverse over time, civic support is needed now.