New Life Day Center Opens

The New Life Day Center opened its doors in early December at 224 N. Martin Luther King Blvd. The center provides daytime shelter for the homeless from 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.  Clients are checked-in, given a name badge, and the opportunity to store their goods in a secured storage locker.  Over 300 clients have registered already, with an average of 61 client visits per day to the center.

Clients receive a smile and warm welcome, coffee and opportunities to connect with other needed services.  “There are about 60+ agencies offering services to the homeless,” director Steve Polston said recently.  “One of our goals is to provide connections to those, including transportation if needed.”

Medical and mental health screenings, Bible study, job training and other opportunites are available to interested clients. The center works in close cooperation with agencies which provide meals and overnight shelter, including Lexington Rescue Mission, The Lighthouse, Catholic Action Center and The Hope Center.  “Our goal is to fill the gaps in service provided, but not to overlap with other agencies and waste resources,” according to Steve.  He should know about conserving resources—as he and several others are staffing the center on a 100% volunteer basis in order to get it up and running. The only paid staff right now is a security patrol to ensure there is no loitering in the vicinity of the center before or after hours.

Already, they’ve met some amazing individuals. CeCe* is a polite, intelligent young woman, and despite the fact she’s homeless, her story is inspiring.  She reported to the NLDC staff she’d be receiving her food stamp money on a Friday, and since she eats her meals at area agencies, didn’t need all of her food stamps.  She decided to contribute thirty to forty dollars’ worth of orange juice to NLDC.  Twelve gallons of juice were delivered to the center that week!

Daniel*, like each of the clients, has another story entirely.  Daniel played football at an NCAA Division 1 school, then professionally.  Yet he shared his experience of sleeping in a porta-potty.  When asked how he fit his 6’3” frame inside to lie down, he explained it was a larger, handicap version. (* Names have been changed.)

We invite you to stop by and take a tour or call Steve Polston at 859-252-3012 and commit to a volunteer time slot. Several opportunities for individual and groups of volunteers exist.