The Bethlehem Inn’s new family shelter in Bend, which is opening this week, will replace a dilapidated five-family shelter and double the capacity, potentially housing 10 families at one time.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled Thursday evening to celebrate the two-story, 18,100-square-foot facility for families in need.

The family shelter is part of a $9 million fundraising campaign to completely rebuild the Bethlehem Inn campus in Bend. The nonprofit homeless shelter is focused on raising a remaining $1 million to finish another new facility — this one for individual residents — to replace an 84-bed motel-style shelter and accommodate 108 single men and women.

Gwenn Wysling, executive director of Bethlehem Inn, said the shelter has been limited by its two original buildings, which are not fully handicapped accessible and crowd people into smaller rooms.

The original family shelter was demolished earlier this month, and the current shelter for men and women will be demolished to make room for a parking lot for the new facilities.

“We have always had more demand than space,” Wysling said. “Now, we have opened up a space that is more welcoming.”

Wysling said the homeless shelter is seeing more families in need because they are unable to afford housing in the region. In addition to housing struggles, many families have gone broke from health-related costs and some are surviving a domestic violence situation, Wysling said.

Residents can stay for five weeks at a time, and the average stay is about 30 days.

While families and individuals are at the Bethlehem Inn, staffers want their stay to be comfortable. That is a priority at the new family shelter, which includes an outdoor play area for children.

“There’s a real welcoming sense of safety and tranquility,” Wysling said.

A main feature of the new family shelter is a full commercial kitchen, where shelter volunteers can cook meals on site for the first time. Before the new building, volunteers would bring prepared meals and serve them in a small dining area.

The new dining area offers more space and separates the individual residents from the families.

Heather Salversen, volunteer and capital campaign chair at Bethlehem Inn, said the previous dining experience was disjointed for families because they would have to walk across the property to the dining area and then back to their rooms. The shelter does not allow residents to eat in their rooms.

The new dining area is in the same building as the families’ rooms. Families can eat together, which is something especially important for children, Salversen said.

“Here, there can be that sense of routine, normalcy and safety for the kids,” she said.

Salversen also pointed to other simple amenities often taken for granted, such as closets in each of the new rooms. The original shelters only had coat racks for residents to hang their clothes.

“They can actually hang all their clothes up,” she said.

With the new family shelter finished, the focus has shifted to raising the remaining $1 million for the new individual resident facility.

The planned 16,000-square-foot facility for single men and women is expected to be opened by next fall.

Salversen said local support has been a huge driver for the fundraising campaign. About 60 percent of the $8 million raised so far has come from Bend residents, organizations and businesses, she said.

To raise the remaining amount, the shelter is launching the Tribute Project that encourages people to donate in honor of someone who helped transform their lives.

Salversen said people can donate as a way to recognize a parent, teacher, pastor or someone else who has influenced their lives. The idea falls in line with the fundraiser’s theme of Transforming Lives Together.

Salversen has already seen an impact from people who have donated.

“I’ve had so many people who are close to this campaign get emotional,” she said. “You can see in their faces and hear in their voices the sheer emotion of how critical and needed these buildings are.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com