It’s an open lot today, but by the end of 2017, it will be home to the homeless

Elected officials and homeless service providers dug their golden shovels into the dirt Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Homeless Services Center in San Luis Obispo — but the event celebrated more than just a new building.

The ceremony at 40 Prado Road also recognized the services and care that will be offered within that building and marked the culmination of several years of collaboration between community organizations, local officials and the public to find an acceptable site for the 20,000-square-foot facility and raise millions of dollars to construct it.

“We just can never lose sight of the goal. We can never give up,” said Biz Steinberg, CEO of the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, which will operate the center. “I think this project is symbolic of that. We must continue to do whatever we can to help those in most need.”

Construction on the new $5.4 million center — which consolidates the day and night services of the Prado Day Center and the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter — could start in January and open next fall.

More than 200 people gathered inside a tent at the building site as some of the 10 speakers listed the benefits of the center and the community’s commitment to it. The event also celebrated CAPSLO’s 50th anniversary.

A slideshow listed some of the largest donations from local philanthropists and businesspeople: $500,000 from B. Wayne Hughes Jr.; $250,000 from Bert and Candee Forbes; $155,000 each from Roy and Linda Rawlings and Diana and Craig Foch; $125,000 from Rick and Jill Stollmeyer; $110,000 from John and Deb Spatafore; $100,000 from Andy and Laurie Mangano; and $86,000 from Ann and Lou Robinson.

The center will include emergency shelter beds for 100, with capacity up to 150 in inclement weather; as well as overnight parking, a laundry room, pet kennel, showers, lockers and storage. It also will have after-school programs for children; computers for children and adults; services for the medically fragile; drug, alcohol and mental health therapy; services for homeless veterans and their families; a commercial kitchen; a community garden; and housing support.

Roy Rawlings, president of Friends of Prado Day Center, which raises money to keep the day center open, said the new facility would provide more stability for homeless children by giving them a set place to sleep.

“They won’t have to get up and move. They won’t have to move their clothes, they won’t have to sleep in a different bed,” Rawlings said. “Just things like that will make a huge difference in the lives of our disadvantaged children.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "It’s an open lot today, but by the end of 2017, it will be home to the homeless."