The Center, 1411 Brady St., Davenport, is seeking public support and financial donations to respond to two separate acts of vandalism that have caused extensive damage to their HVAC system, electrical infrastructure and roof.
The first incident (in the spring) resulted in nearly $100,000 in damage and an estimated $65,000 insurance shortfall. While repairs were underway, the property was vandalized a second time last Thursday, significantly increasing the scope of the work. Based on current estimates, The Center could now face approximately $165,000 in remaining restoration and security-related work.
For 25 years, The Center has served people experiencing homelessness, addiction, poverty and other challenges. In an average month, the nonprofit provides approximately 741 healthy lunches, 173 showers, 77 clothing vouchers and 236 peer-to-peer support contacts, in addition to connections to treatment, mental-health care and other resources.
The 25,000-square-foot, two-story building is also home to community partners including Friendly Thrift, Sacred Heart Food Pantry and Skate Church. These organizations continued serving throughout the summer without functioning air conditioning. With winter approaching, restoring the building has become increasingly urgent, The Center leaders said Wednesday, Sept. 30.
“So we're asking for your help. We're asking for financial donations. We're asking for volunteers,” associate director Michael Gayman, who started in the job six months ago, said.
“We're asking for whatever support you can provide,” he said, encouraging people to find out more and donate at www.thecenterdavenport.com. The Center is seeking emergency funding help from Regional Development Authority, Scott County Regional Authority and Better Health Foundation, Gayman said.
“And it was one of those things like our roof is not easily accessible,” he said. “We never would have ever thought about putting cameras up there. I mean, there are now. There's three up there now.”
Director Pennie Kellenberger (who’s been with The Center 27 years) said Wednesday their mission “is loving people and helping people move forward in their journey, whatever journey that they're on. It is not set for fixing all of the air conditioners and computers that we have all at once.
“We're facing a crisis, we really are, but we're not panicking. I'm not panicking. I'm a little bit,” she said, noting they’re working with Shawn Manning of Falcon Home Improvement to complete repairs within a month.
“We wanted to make sure that we shared with the greater community here that it is doable and we are going to be okay,” Kellenberger said. “We have a contractor that we have 100% faith in, knows what he's doing, and it sounds scary, but we're going to do it. And we're counting on our community to support us through all of this.”
A personal project
Manning has worked with The Center before, and lives in the neighborhood, so this is important to him personally.
“Especially for an organization that they raise money to do things to feed people and keep people operating,” he said. “And the sad fact is they've got insurance, but the insurance company, they only cover so much. On the first building vandalism, the vandals got on the roof and they took some copper, they took some electrical wiring, they put some holes in it, and in the process they pretty much destroyed the AC units and they did a lot of damage to the roof. Just that first vandalism total would come to roughly about $75,000.”
“So we were working on getting that addressed, and we were waiting on the HVAC equipment to show up,” Manning said, when last week vandals returned and totally destroyed the wiring system and took the rest of the copper lines they didn’t get the first time.
“But with the second round of vandalism, we're looking at possibly an addition of $75,000 in addition to the first round of $75,000,” he noted. “That's not including a regular camera system here so we can get our regular camera lighting up on the roof to help prevent more people in the future. And that's also not including any kind of fencing or other kinds of precautions that we can put around the rooftop to reduce more people from getting up there.”
“Somebody took their time, they planned well, they knew what they were doing,” Manning added.
“And it's embarrassing to say that it happened twice, but it did,” Kellenberger said. “And just as we thought we had a plan, we had it under control, and they came and did it again. And that's when I said we need to reach out to our greater community because our budget is set for serving people and loving people with compassion. It is not set for a bill that can handle doing it twice.”
The first vandalism occurred either in May or June, she noted.
“Vandals got on our roof and took all the copper out of our air conditioning and heating units. We noticed that it was getting a little hot, you know, June and July, and we're like, we'll turn the air up. And as we tried to do that, we got on the roof to try to fix it. We just thought they were broken, and that's when we realized that they had been vandalized,” Kellenberger said. “So we began getting bids and to fix them, realizing it was much more money than we had anticipated.”
“As that process started, probably about a week ago, getting all of our equipment up there, getting it ready to go, it happened again,” Kellenberger said. “And it saddens me to think that people do that to other people. And I can hear what they say is that, well, the insurance companies will pay for that. Well, it doesn't work that way in real life, as we all know. But It's been quite devastating for us. So once we repaired what was broken a little bit, when they came back the second time, they destroyed it completely.”
Continue regular operations
The Center will continue operating as normal during repairs. They are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., with neighborhood lunch served weekdays at 11:30 a.m., and showers are available weekdays until 11 a.m.
“We're not closing these doors. As a matter of fact, in that deafening heat that we had, the food pantry, the church shop, and the skate church, they didn't close,” Kellenberger said of this summer. “I would go over there, it would be so very hot, I would say to the ladies, go home. You know, don't be in this building, it's too hot. But they wanted to make sure that they were there making sure people had what they need.”
“We’re just going to do a direct ask, and we have reserves, but we want to make sure that we're good stewards of any money that the Lord has given us,” she said, noting St. John’s United Methodist Church across the street supports about 70% of their annual budget. “And that would cut all of our reserves out for sure. And we just, we also went out on a limb to hire an associate director as part of our succession plan with my retiring. I was hoping in July. If I have to extend that, then that's what I'll do.”
Kellenberger said it’s especially hard to be attacked when vandals knew this was a Christian nonprofit, working to help those most in need.
“It’s hurtful to think that people would attack an organization that is really trying to help other people, but it isn't the first time that the Center has been attacked,” she said. “There are a lot of people who disagree with why we do what we do, and honestly, it doesn't offend me. It makes me sad for people. Everybody has different opinions on religion and why we serve who we serve. And there are, quite honestly, some people who just don't care. They mean they just don't care who you are. If they can make a buck, they'll make a buck.”
This is also a direct attack on people The Center is helping, Kellenberger said.
“It hurts their feelings, you know? And that's what makes me mad,” she said, fighting back tears. “They're already dealing with enough stuff, you know, whether it's, they live in a cycle of poverty and they're just trying to figure out their next meal, or they're homeless and they're sleeping outside. So one of the things our greater community can do is just be nice to people. Be extra nice to the people that come into the center. They already are dealing with stuff.”
“They're already dealing with life's issues that are difficult, and so to have a spot where they come that a lot of them call home is hurtful, and nobody sees that,” Kellenberger said. “Because what we have to spend on fixing that, we can't spend on helping them.”
“And there is no time like now that The Center needs help financially. So we want to end the year positive,” she added, grateful for a recent $10,000 grant from the Doris & Victor Day Foundation for homeless outreach. “We don't want to dig into our reserves, and we want to make sure that this problem doesn't happen again.”
The Center -- Love in Action seeks to alleviate the pain and suffering of poor and marginalized people in our community, says its website. The Center was started as an outreach effort of St. John’s United Methodist Church with Skatechurch; it currently is a separate nonprofit organization. While The Center is grounded in faith, individuals are not required to participate in religious or sectarian activities to access its social service activities.
“Working with people who are facing homelessness, addiction, mental health challenges, trauma, poverty, and loneliness means we are invited into incredibly sacred parts of their lives. It is a privilege to walk beside them through both the difficult days and the hopeful ones,” Gayman of The Center wrote recently for the group’s website, noting he lost three people he was working with to suicide earlier this month.
“Yes, this work brings loss. But it also brings countless reminders that hope is real. We see people take another step forward. We watch relationships begin to heal. We hear laughter return,” Gayman wrote. “We see someone walk through our doors feeling invisible and leave knowing that someone sees them, values them, and believes their life matters.”
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