Lebanon Rescue Mission shares plans for Agape Safe Haven with community

Lebanon Rescue Mission shared its vision for Agape Safe Haven with the Lebanon community through the open house on Thursday, May 1.

During the event, community members were given the chance to tour the former Goodman Vending property located at 1250-1310 Bittner Blvd., Lebanon, and envision the floor plan of the new 25,126-square-foot facility.

While picking up informational materials and enjoying refreshments, community members were also able to speak with mission team members about how Agape Safe Haven will expand the mission’s ability to serve women with children and seniors.

“Turnout’s been great. We’re getting to see a lot of friends, a lot of faces we haven’t seen for a while,” Mission CEO and executive director Susan Blouch said. “Everyone that’s talked to me is very excited. I think they’re blown away by how large the building will be.”

Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz and CEO/president of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce Karen Groh were among those in attendance at the drop-in style open house.

Blouch told LebTown that by September, the mission will invite four companies to bid on the project, and by October, the mission will make its selection on which company will serve as the general contractor.

“We’re hoping they’ll break ground by next March,” she said. The mission hopes to move into the new facility by the early second quarter of 2027.

Read More: Lebanon Rescue Mission to meet community need with Agape Safe Haven

The project will involve renovating the existing building on the former Goodman Vending property and adjoining an addition to the rear of the building, as well as replacing the heating, cooling, and electrical systems to help the mission manage the costs of running another facility.

“The three buildings that we’re in now are all turn-of-the-century, 100-year-old buildings – beautiful, but there’s nothing efficient about their heating, their cooling, their electric,” Blouch said. “So, the new facility with all brand-new systems will actually not cost more to operate than the existing buildings that we have.”

The new HVAC system will also provide the mission with the ability to heat and cool each guest room and cut services to vacant guest rooms to save money.

Certain aspects of the project, such as IT, security, and the door access control system, fall outside of the scope of the general contractor and will be handled by other companies.

Through Agape Safe Haven, the mission will work to meet the most basic needs of women with children and seniors. The mission will partner with other community organizations to provide its guests with “the broadest access to services,” Blouch said, avoiding duplicating services and increasing its ability to serve women with children and seniors threefold.

When asked what guests usually have with them when they show up at the mission, Blouch responded, “Some moms come with kids, a couple sets of clothes, and that’s it. Others come with all their belongings.” In those cases, the mission partners with self-storage companies to stow belongings that don’t fit in a guest room.

Agape Safe Haven will feature hallways with guest rooms, which Blouch compared to motel rooms. The guest rooms will feature a full bed for the mother and bunk beds for children, a counter with a sink designed with mothers of infants in mind, a nightstand, a closet area, and a full bathroom.

Guest rooms for large families will have the option of an adjoining room. Guest rooms for seniors can be connected to or separated from the rest of the facility, depending on the dynamics of who is staying at the mission at that time.

“If we have more senior men that need housing, we’ll still use the same building, but there’s a hard, secure stop between those rooms and women and children,” Blouch said.

In addition to emergency and transitional housing, the mission will provide guests with food services. Blouch told LebTown that, for example, a mother with children will be responsible for coordinating their own breakfast and lunch, but will be provided with dinner through the commercial kitchen in the dining room.

“The common areas will be very open, light, bright,” Blouch said. “I don’t want it to look institutional. I want it to look like someone’s home — a 25,000-square-foot home, but a home nonetheless.”

Other common areas will include a children’s playroom, classrooms, gathering spaces, a gently used clothing boutique, laundry rooms, a case management and counseling space, and offices.

“I think the play area, for us, is the most important,” Blouch said. “Because when a mom comes, and she’s had, you know, unstable housing, insecure food, the child is very traumatized by that. We want to bring the child in, get them to feel safe, get them stabilized, and then let them be a child again.”

As for the classrooms, Blouch said they will appear and function like typical classrooms, but added they will also serve as multi-purpose spaces for activities typically hosted in classrooms, conference rooms, and event venues.

The mission will provide teaching from its staff members as well as volunteers from the community. More than 800 community members volunteer at the mission’s existing facilities each year, and more will be needed to fulfill the demands of Agape Safe Haven.

The mission will work with its guests to ensure they have essential documents, such as their birth certificate, Social Security card, and driver’s license. The mission will also assess whether its guests require medical care.

Also, the mission will coach its guests while they set and work towards achieving goals in various areas of life, such as routines, parenting, living situations, budgeting, and careers.

“All things that I think we take for granted, if we grew up in a stable house. You can’t take any of that for granted,” Blouch said. “And so, we’re trying to fulfill all those. We’re trying to build confidence and skills so that they can manage their own home when they leave us.”