From the desk of the Executive Director, Dawn Sikkink. I hope everyone is staying safe. With that in mind, I would like to express to everyone in our communities that safety is our first priority. We continue to provide services and will be available for those who need our services. Our community has had to navigate through the pandemic and what this looks like for Beacon Center in the future. COVID-19 has shown us that we need to make some upgrades in our current shelter area, to provide the best services.
We have been working diligently to keep everyone safe. We have some exciting news that we would like to share. Our current shelter facility is equipped with six sleeping rooms. One is a small efficiency apartment, while the others are an open room with several beds. We have an open common area that includes a living room, dining room, indoor playground, and kitchen. This is a very large space, but we have been shown that we cannot continue to have clients share a common living area. Due to the pandemic, we will be renovating our shelter into eight single-family apartments. Each apartment will have one to three bedrooms, equipped with a fully functional kitchen and bathroom. We have written several grants over the past year and a half. The grants have been awarded to Beacon Center to renovate and re-furnish our shelter. We are extremely excited to begin our project and invite you to follow along through the process.
I would like to welcome each and every one of you to tour our new shelter upon completion. Please, stay tuned for the start of the renovation and projected completion.