The Jolt | Sergio’s homeless daytime resource center in Olympia, WA

Excerpt from The Jolt by Lorilyn Lirio.

See full article here.

“Interfaith Works has updated the Olympia City Council on the ongoing project called Sergio Jaramillo, a daytime resource center to provide people hygiene services, on-site medical, mental health, and emergency services in hazardous weather, during a meeting on Tuesday, January 31.

According to the Interfaith Works Shelter website, they received a temporary occupancy permit in early January 2023.

The website stated that the building is complete, and all permit inspections have been passed. Minimal landscape additions are required to receive full building occupancy, which will be approved within 90 days.

On January 23, Interfaith Works held an open house at the center.

Meg Martin, executive director for Interfaith Works, said they have been working on the project for a couple of years and was able to purchase the property at 3444 Martin Way.

Martin said Olympia, Tumwater and Lacey contributed to making the center happen. They also get funding from the United Way, part of COVID relief funds, targeted toward people with the highest risk of contracting and dying from COVID.

Martin said the property was an old foam and fabric outlet. ‘We have to demolish the existing structure. It would have taken far too much investment to bring it up to a livable building to rehabilitate it.’

Interfaith Works worked with a Canadian-based company called Sprung Structures, which does structures for emergency hospitals and different modular buildings that can be put up quickly and used for many other uses.

‘Our intended use was to use it as a bridge while unity Commons was still getting finished. Because at that time, we were sheltering in two different churches to provide a space for hazardous weather response and a space for daytime respite,’ she said.”