Aug 26, 2015 3 min read

Since 1941, Washington City Mission has served countless individuals by offering shelter, nourishment and rehabilitation.

A recent catastrophe did not extinguish the mission’s faith-based community outreach.

Despite a June 9 fire, in which the mission’s main building at 84 W. Wheeling St. sustained major damage, operations persisted. With the support of the community, the mission continued to provide meals and alternate housing for men in the shelter. But the living arrangement – a mobile unit at Washington and West Beau streets – is temporary.

Mission leaders intend to rebuild and, with approval from the City of Washington planning commission, they are making progress.

Dean Gartland, president and chief executive officer of the mission, and Ralph J. Sterzinger of RSSC Architecture, Wexford, presented a site plan application to the committee during a public meeting Wednesday at City Hall. The committee will advise council to approve the plan, the next phase of the application process.

“You do great work and it’s a great cause,” said Angelo Musto, commission member. “I hope it helps a lot of people. It’s a beautiful plan.”

The proposal includes demolition of the kitchen in the chapel building, construction of new two-story connection between the chapel and old donation center, renovation of the old donation center into a new men’s dormitory, renovation of the old recycling space into a kitchen and dining space and renovation of the chapel, including new offices and classrooms.

The approximately $4 million project will be funded with insurance money from the fire, grants and donations.

The outside of the structure will also see an upgrade.

“It will look more like a residence than it does an industrial building,” Sterzinger said.

Inside, an elevator and sprinkler system will be installed.

“As tragic as (the fire) was, it created an opportunity for us to make everything safer for our residents,” Gartland said.

The West Wheeling building became home to the mission in 1963.

The new facility will include an emergency shelter for those who need immediate overnight accommodations. Gartland said the mission had an influx of people needing shelter, especially in winter months. For the past three years, the mission allowed those people to sleep on the floor of the chapel.

The new facility will have space for up to 96 men.

Gartland hopes the project is complete within a year as the lease on the mobile units and land housing the men will expire.

“We’re under a very strict deadline we really want to keep,” he said. “Our goal is to get everything back up to our campus.”