The Salvation Army of Wake County held an open house/grand opening on Saturday to debut the Judy D. Zelnak Center of Hope that includes a 92-bed shelter for women and children. The modernized facility provides several different essential needs for families including a nightly soup kitchen, computer lab, financial assistance, clothing vouchers, and a Wake Smiles free dental clinic that will be available soon.
Raleigh N.C. (Aug 10, 2013)The Judy D. Zelnak Center of Hope will provide a 92-bed women and children’s shelter.
(Photo by: Jasmine Brown)
The Salvation of Wake County renovated a building from the 1950’s and is finally able to open its doors to the community. They have owned the facility since 2007 and began a capital campaign in 2009 to raise 12 million dollars to reconstruct the center.
“We certainly had our fair share of change orders and things we didn’t know were going to happen,” said Paige Bagwell, Director of Operations and Communications for the Salvation Army of Wake County. “There certainly were headaches along the way but I think now that we’re here all of that goes away rather quickly because we realize what goodness that this brings and we’re excited about it.”
Bagwell says that five families have moved in so far from the previous location on Person Street and she hopes that new families that have not been with the organization before will begin to move in on Monday. The bedrooms have enough sleeping space to either house one large family or multiple families. Each room comes equipped with its own full bathroom, furnished beds, drawer space, and a television.
