The new Wichita Children’s Home is up and running--and staff and children are in the process of moving into the building.
It took four years of planning and one year of construction to get the two-story building along east 37th Street North ready for its new residents.
The Children’s Home is a shelter that provides services for homeless, abused and neglected children and young adults. On an average day, the Wichita Children’s Home cares for about 100 kids.
Children under 12 who are brought to the shelter are generally placed with a foster care family in the community. About 45 kids are currently at the Children’s Home and will transition to the new facility.
Children’s Home CEO Debbie Kennedy says they thought of the kids with every decision, from the paint on the walls, to the furnishings to the design of the units for boys and girls.
"Each unit has 14 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living space, a private patio. So the children will be living together, but they’ll have a place to go in their own bedroom and it will feel more like home," she says.
Instead of one main entrance, the new shelter has a separate, private entrance for law enforcement agencies to use.
A large neighboring building, expected to be completed in May, will house a classroom, weight room and basketball court. The 13-acre location also includes apartments for kids who have aged out of foster care or are homeless.
The new building costs $12.5 million. Kennedy says they have about $900,000 left to raise.
“We hope that we can finalize that pretty soon," Kennedy says. "What we don’t want to do is have to take out a mortgage because then takes money away from programming.”
The Wichita Children’s Home had been located on Holyoke for the past 50 years. The new building is at 7271 East 37th Street North, between Woodlawn and Rock roads.
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