It’s hard to keep track of all the ribbon-cuttings going on in Aurora, an impressive 68 so far this year, with another half dozen or so scheduled before closing out 2024.
Still, there was something special about the ceremony that took place Saturday afternoon in a renovated old manufacturing plant at 680 S. River St.
The opening of the Hesed House expansion shelter is doubling down on the community’s commitment to offer hope and dignity for the homeless by doubling up on the beds it can provide for them.
Politicians and partners joined the nonprofit’s volunteers and staff to share in the excitement of this “680 Shelter” that increases that number from 145 before COVID-19 to 280.
And it’s not just that one statistic making a difference. The nearly $4.5 million renovation includes a large common eating area, state-of-the-art industrial kitchen, self-service laundry rooms, spacious ADA-accessible shower stalls, personal lockers, a supply store, separate men’s and women’s sleeping areas with hundreds of new beds and isolation spaces to help prevent the spread of communicable diseases, along with offering more comfort and privacy.
There’s also a high-tech camera system that allows staff to monitor guests for better medical and safety emergencies, a women’s-only dining space to better serve victims of domestic violence, as well as gender-affirming and harm reduction features for the addicted that include Narcan dispensers, AEDs and more.
This second site will not only be the primary overnight shelter for men and women, it will also house Hesed House’s Comprehensive Homeless Resource Center, which has become a model for shelters across the country. One resident described it as “the Hilton of shelters” on Monday, as he and 188 other men spent their first night in this facility that had also been housing 71 women since the first phase was completed.
It’s no surprise this move-over from the main facility across the street was hectic. But there was no shortage of smiles or compliments as residents got their first look at the new digs. There were so many, in fact, that Associate Director of PADS Kristen Collins “stopped counting the positive conversations after guest 20.”
One man, who normally is up and down all night, didn’t wake up until 6:45 a.m. that morning and reported to her he’d “not slept in a real bed in years” and this was “the best sleep I’ve gotten in a really long time.”
It’s not just the comfortable sleeping spaces or the new showers or washing machines that elicited so much excitement from residents, noted Jackson. It’s knowing this community cares about their welfare and is willing to put in the time, effort and money to offer them the dignity and hope all humans deserve.
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Getting to this point was no easy task. The project hit plenty of hurdles – lots of delays and red tape – in its more than four-year-odyssey. But it was the face of one homeless man he met outside the shelter during the pandemic that motivated Hesed House Executive Director Joe Jackson to “not take my foot off the gas pedal.”
In addition to blisters from the summer sun, the man’s face was swollen and bruised, his shirt bloodied, after being assaulted the previous night when trying to sleep in a park.
Because of strict COVID-19 restrictions, the shelter was full and Jackson had no choice but to turn him away.
“That was my worst moment at Hesed House … my words caused hope to leave that man,” said Jackson, who told me later the encounter is so “seared” in his mind “I can picture the clothes he was wearing, the clouds in the sky.”
That moment, he added, “became my constant motivation to get this project done.”
Turns out this particular ribbon-cutting also held special significance for Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who admitted he wasn’t always as understanding as he should have been about homelessness until he spent a night at the shelter.
The experience was an eye-opener, Irvin admitted, and he vowed that as long as he’s mayor, Joe Jackson “will never have to look at another human being’s face and tell them you cannot help them.”
Also speaking at the event was Lauren Jernigan, division director of development for Hesed House, who praised the 90-plus organizations that partner with the shelter, as well as its 7,500 volunteers. Without all of them, she said, “our community would look so different.”
Facilities Director Lenny Knolewicz highlighted the funding behind this huge project, which included private and corporate donors, as well as state and federal grants. In addition, he gave kudos to Kane and DuPage counties, as well as JB Architecture Group and RC Wegman Construction, which, despite labor and material shortages, “put Hesed in front so our momentum would continue.”
Also on hand was U.S. Rep. BIll Foster, D-Naperville, who, as Jackson pointed out, “got the project to the finish line” with a $1.6 million federal grant.
All of the above would not have been possible without the support of the city, which is a rarity these days across the nation, Jackson pointed out, adding more major projects are in the works, as he vows the fight to end homelessness will continue.
In the meantime, small victories are celebrated along with the big ones.
Later that same summer of 2020, Jackson told me he saw the assaulted homeless man again – now healed, at lunch at the shelter. But a few weeks later he was gone, likely out on his own, as he preferred.
“I know I will never see him again, and in the weirdest way that makes me very happy” because it means he does not need the shelter, said Jackson.
But if he ever does?
The community, said Jackson proudly, has made it possible “that we will never have to turn any man or woman away again for lack of space.”