The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

September 6, 2010

Theresa House still searching for a new home

By Brian Ojanpa The Free Press

MANKATO — Pam Bartholomew sounds only half facetious when she says she’s hoping a big lottery winner will funnel some funds her way.

The executive director of Partners for Affordable Housing in Mankato says the vexing search for new quarters for Theresa House shelter drags on.

But that’s nothing, say, $1.7 million wouldn’t solve.

“We’re still plugging along,” Bartholomew says of the hunt that’s been thwarted twice since the shelter for women and children had to exit its former quarters.

That move was made necessary when the building’s owner, St. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church, needed the room for use as seminary housing.

The 18-bed Theresa House operation has since looked at two locations,  but neither option gained traction, with money being a prime stumbling block.

Meantime, Theresa House clients are being housed in a two-story house on Broad Street next to Welcome Inn, a long-established shelter for families and single women.

Both entities are operated by Partners for Affordable Housing, which Theresa House merged with in July 2009.

Bartholomew said the merger has posed its own challenges — namely the tasks of building community awareness of the organization’s work with the homeless and building in-house consensus.

“There are two boards involved with two different cultures coming together, and that takes time, “ she said.

 

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