Tent meant for festivals and galas used to put services for Grand Junction’s homeless under one roof

Tent meant for festivals and galas used to put services for Grand Junction’s homeless under one roof

The temperatures had barely climbed into the 20s on a recent morning as a squadron of volunteers, trailing clouds of frosty breath, hustled into a portable pavilion carrying boxes and pushing carts and pallets of donated food.

Inside the new 9,500-square-foot glass and canvas building, a few members of the homeless community were already waiting along the sunny south windows as the scent of fresh brewed coffee wafted around them.

They came to get warm and to stock up on the donated premade salads, the frosted cupcakes, the cans of vegetables, and the bags of dog food that volunteers were stacking on tables. They could also pick up free condoms, clothing, blankets and housing advice. They could take advantage of free haircuts.

This Resource Center pavilion — the same portable model currently being erected in multiples in Las Vegas for Super Bowl parties — is Grand Junction’s temporary one-stop-shop solution to the problem of homelessness. 

The center was built in several days around the Christmas holidays through a partnership between HomewardBound of the Grand Valley, United Way of Mesa County and the City of Grand Junction. The city provided funding help and a vacant city-owned lot for the structure that is designed to serve the homeless community for two years while city and nonprofit officials brainstorm on more permanent solutions.

Read the full story here:

https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/29/grand-junction-homelessness-resource-center-tend/