A New Home Opens for Fighting Homelessness

The Good Shepherd Alliance, Loudoun County's largest service provider to the homeless, has moved its headquarters to Ashburn.

The Center of Hope is a 7,000-square-foot facility on Ashburn Road that houses Good Shepherd's offices and a thrift store. It began accepting clients Monday; a dedication ceremony, to be attended by Del. Thomas Davis Rust (R), is scheduled for July 15.

Good Shepherd, a Christian-based organization that has operated since 1983, runs three shelters in Loudoun: one for families, one for single women and women with children, and one for pregnant women.

Last year, the nonprofit group announced that it was consolidating its services -- an office and drop-in center for the homeless in Leesburg and thrift stores in Ashburn and Sterling -- into a facility on Ashburn Road. The agency broke ground on the project in October.

But Good Shepherd officials abandoned plans for the drop-in center in November, after some Ashburn residents started a petition drive against the project. Opponents said they feared that a drop-in center, where the homeless could grab a meal or take a shower, would increase crime and decrease property values in Ashburn.

To address residents' concerns, Good Shepherd began monthly meetings with Ashburn homeowners associations in February. Nicholas Graham, Good Shepherd's spokesman, said concerns about the center seem to have subsided in recent months.

"I've noticed an unmistakable change in attitude about our presence in the community," Graham said last week.

Good Shepherd officials said the Center of Hope will serve the homeless by appointment only, and only during regular business hours. In addition to administrative offices, there is a conference room and chapel where pastors will be invited to speak.

Although the center does not have showers as originally planned, there is a kitchen for staff members and visiting volunteer groups. The responsibility to feed and house the homeless will remain with designated shelters, food banks and soup kitchens in other areas of the county, Good Shepherd officials said.

The county took over Good Shepherd's drop-in center in Leesburg last week and plans to operate it on a part-time basis, said Ron Eamich, assistant director of the county's Department of Family Services.

But Graham and others said they are concerned that a part-time drop-in center will not be enough to serve the needs of the county's homeless.

"It is not an adequate service for people who depend on such a site to eat, bathe, wash clothes and use office services to help them find a new job and get their life back in order," Graham told the Board of Supervisors at a hearing Monday.

Meanwhile, Good Shepherd officials are preparing for the thrift store's opening July 19. On that day, residents will be invited to drop off donations of clothing.

Mark Gunderman, vice chairman of Good Shepherd's board of directors, said he envisions the center as a meeting place for people of different backgrounds.

"We consider the Center of Hope to be a community lighthouse, meaning that it will reach out to the destitute but at the same time reach out to affluent families who can support people in need," Gunderman said. "The haves and have-nots will be drawn to our program and can help one another."