Ruth's Place Receives 2009 Millennium Circle Grant of $22,000

Ruth’s Place: House of Hope, an emergency women’s homeless shelter in Wilkes-Barre, is the recipient to The Luzerne Foundation’s Millennium Circle Fund annual grant. Millennium Circle members selected the shelter from five finalists for the award at the annual luncheon held on October 27th at Genetti’s Best Western Hotel & Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre.

The 2009 Millennium Circle Grant of $22,000 will go towards the completion of renovations at Ruth’s Center including the addition of bathroom and shower facilities; laundry, stove and kitchen area. The shelter has housed over 697 women from across the county since its opening in 2003 and has recently moved to its new permanent location in Wilkes-Barre.

“We are thrilled to be able to help Ruth’s Place complete these needed renovations so that they may continue to provide emergency shelter services for women in this community,” noted Charie Aponick, Chair of the Millennium Circle Fund of The Luzerne Foundation. “They are the only shelter of this type in Luzerne County and obviously the need is great.”

Ruth’s Place was chosen from five finalists including Maternal Family Health Services for a Nurse/Family Partnership program; Family Service Association of Wyoming Valley for Helpline; Wyoming Valley Children’s Association for a handicapped accessible playground; and Luzerne County Tomorrow for programming at the new River Front Commons. Each of the other finalists will be moved to the Health and Wellness Fund and/or the general grant application cycle for further review and possible funding.

A portion of Ruth’s Place application reads as follow:

“At present we have only one bathroom and shower for all the women and only one hot water heater. As you can imagine, scheduling showers and bathroom time for this volume of women is not an easy task. We have no washer and dryer, and no stove or kitchen area to date. The blueprints are stamped and we are hoping to install two ADA-accessible showers and three commodes in the bathroom area, along with another hot water heater. Laundry is a huge expense and we are presently transporting the shelter’s laundry through volunteers to laundromats. Hauling the towels, bedding, and clothing for 24 women on a daily basis has become a monumental task. Our volunteers are overextended; with winter approaching none wish to transport these loads through the snow. We need a stove and kitchen area completed to cook and warm meals. The structure also needs electrical work completed to move forward with the installation of the appliances. Ruth’s Place asks for the Millennium Circle’s help so that we can perform the renovations needed to stay open and ensure that homeless women in our community have an effective provider of shelter and services.”

The Millennium Circle luncheon was attend by nearly 200 members and guest – the largest attendance in the history of the event. Thank you all for participating in the nomination and voting process.