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D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s raising funds for new headquarters

Posted at 3:23 PM, May 28, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-28 15:23:58-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A local emergency shelter and resource center for at-risk children and their families is in the process of raising funds to build a new central headquarters building.

D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s has been in the community since 1887 helping at-risk children and their families. They operate an emergency shelter and provide a long list of resources for those in need.  They currently operate three locations across Grand Rapids. They are now hoping to consolidate their operations.

They kicked off their ‘Together for Kids’ campaign on Tuesday in an effort to raise enough money to fund a new central headquarters building. They have raised about $7 millions of the total $10 million they need. Once the new building is complete, they would close their other locations and operate exclusively at the new location near Dean Lake and Knapp Street NE.

D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s estimates they will save about $2 million over two years by consolidating their operations.

Schematic of the new building planned for Dean Lake & Knapp

Jim Weaver, Co-Chair of the ‘Together for Kids’ Campaign, says, “We want to build a counseling center and a physical activity center to really make a holistic experience, not only for the residential kids but those families that comes to us from their homes and need counseling.”

D.A. Blodgett provides counseling and medical services, as well as a mentorship program. To learn more about the services they offer, click here.

“We hope its going to be able to double the number of families we are able to serve. We are unfortunately seeing a rise in the number of families struggling either due to economic circumstances or broken homes,” Weaver tells FOX 17.

You can donate at the group's website here.