To the editor:

I recently had a chance to talk to someone who benefitted from a stay at one of the respite apartments that have been available for the last few years. This single mother shared with me that her 10-day stay in the shelter was a life changer for her. She was able to catch her breath, have a few days not worrying about where she was going to sleep and take the time needed to make the right arrangements. I look forward to hearing many more stories like this when Samaritan House opens.

The Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake, in partnership with Lakeside House, is getting ready to open Samaritan House, a transitional housing center for the homeless population in our community. Samaritan House will provide safe and secure housing for those in need, along with structure and direction, helping people get back on their feet and successfully living on their own.

If you’ve been following our progress, you know that we have secured a facility and completed the process of obtaining the necessary permissions from the village for our operation. We are now at the stage of preparing the building for use. We have had a real outpouring of support from the community so far, with hundreds of hours of volunteer work to get us ready. Church fellowships in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid have adopted rooms to get ready for use and have been working hard on them. We still have more work to get done, but we are well on our way.

What we really need now from the community is financial support. We have our operating funds secured for our first year of normal operations, all from private sources. What we need is help with our start-up expenses, which may end up being considerable.

To help us get started, we have received a challenge grant from a concerned local citizen. This challenge grant will match any donation of at least $100 up to a total of $5,000. If you would like to help Samaritan House become a reality, this is a great opportunity to have your contribution automatically doubled. And if you can’t reach the $100 level, all contributions will be gratefully accepted and used to help get Samaritan House ready for use.

To add your help, just make out a check to the Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake and mail it to P.O. Box 194, Saranac Lake, NY 12983. Online donations can be made safely using the “Donations” tab at our website: slecumenical.weebly.com. Tax receipts are provided.

You can be a part of this project.

Rich Loeber

Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake