City Mission to open Martha's House

Until recently, the stately brick building at 1918 N. Main St. was known as Family Resource Center's south campus, where adult services were provided. Then the agency moved all of its programs under one roof and the structure has been empty since May. But now there's a whole new life and purpose for the 158-year-old building. According to the City Mission's executive director Kathryn Bausman, the mission has received a donation of the property from Whitman Title Security of Findlay, Jeff and Anne Mary Whitman. The plan for the property, she said, is to open a women with children's emergency shelter, called Martha's House. "I'm over the moon," said Bausman, after the deed was signed Wednesday. "This is a big deal. This is a big deal for the women we serve, a big deal for the community." She said the mission has been talking about getting women with children out of the Mission's West Main Cross Street property for the past decade. "They knew that probably needed to be done as the homeless population is growing," she said. When FRC moved out, Bausman talked to CEO John Bindas about his plans for the building. "And he said he'd really like to keep it in the community. He would really be willing to work with someone that wanted to keep it in the community," she said. Bausman also talked to the Whitmans and told them about this opportunity. They ultimately agreed to buy the building, which will allow the mission to increase its ability to house women with children. Meanwhile, opening Martha's House will allow the mission to open a year-round low barrier overnight shelter, she said. This shelter will help people who are currently living on the streets, in woods, sleeping in cars and for a variety of reasons do not choose to or qualify for other sheltering services. The North Main Street building was originally a private residence when it was built in 1865, Bausman said. It became a nursing home called Manley Manor in 1969. The Lincoln Center moved into the building in 1990. In 1997, the center, along with Family Service of Hancock County and the John C. Hutson Center, consolidated into a single agency called Century Health. Finally, Century Health and Family Resource Center merged in 2019. Bausman said the building will continue to help people. "That's what everyone over the generations has wanted this building to be is something to give back to the community and it's just going to keep doing that," she said. Women with children represent one of the fastest growing homeless populations in the country — and in Hancock County, she said. "Women stay somewhere between 60, maybe 90 days, until they can get completely stable," Bausman said. "We can find them someplace and we hook them up with resources as well as make sure they have a social support network." In 2022, the mission served 19 families with 33 children. Those numbers have already doubled to 40 families with over 50 children so far this year, she said. "So it's not going to be getting better and we need someplace where the women can go immediately," said Bausman. "We deal with women in crisis, women that are maybe coming out of abuse, people that lost their home for one reason or another but they're on the streets. "You don't come to a homeless shelter with your children unless you're truly in an emergency crisis state," she added. Opening Martha's House The second floor of the structure will be sealed off for future growth, leaving the bottom floor for residents. Bausman said there will be a large family room, playroom and office space along with nine bedrooms that will each have a separate bathroom. The shelter will be staffed 24/7, said Bausman. An apartment upstairs will be remodeled for live-in staff. At the mission, two rooms will be kept for men with children or a couple with children. Those rooms have outside entrances so they're secure, she said. "They're like mini hotel rooms and that's on the mission property. So we will always service men with children and intact families with children. This will be for women with children," she said. Bausman said she now needs to raise about $1.2 million. Renovations will cost $700,000-$800,000 and Alvada Construction has agreed to work with the agency, she said. "The building is in pretty good shape and that's what everybody is saying. Our construction people say it's in pretty good shape, I mean, everybody. So $700,000 to do all this renovation, and that's including the cosmetic stuff, so it's in pretty good shape," she said. They also will need two years of operating expenses to open, she said. Bausman said they are just in the beginning stages of securing funding. "Findlay is really a very, very giving community, a very generous community. When they see the need for something, they get behind it," she said. Founding donors are currently being sought to help with the shelter. "It's going to be a big undertaking, but I'm fairly confident we can start really looking at construction within six months," she said. And the name — Martha's House — is based on Martha from the Bible, Bausman explained. "People said, well why Martha and not Mary? I said because Jesus looked at Martha and said, 'You are encumbered with so many cares. You are worried about so many things,'" she said. That's where these women are coming from, said Bausman. "We want to be a place where Martha's can come. We can teach them how to sit at the feet of Jesus and they become Mary's," she said.