Joe Schaler and Kim Turner share long term goals for Fifth Street facility in Lincoln

 

[July 24, 2023] 

The Central Illinois Veterans Commission (CIVC) recently acquired the former St. Clara’s Manor/Lincoln College Student Housing building on Fifth Street in Lincoln.

Maybe you’ve driven past and seen the old Lincoln College sign replaced with one for the CIVC. Have you seen this building and wondered what it is going to be used for? The answer is quite a lot, in fact.

Firstly, if you aren’t familiar with the CIVC and what do they do, the organization offers services for veterans in Central Illinois to help them eventually obtain permanent housing. You may be aware of the tiny houses being built for veterans on Decatur Street.

In addition to housing, they also offer things such as free dental care and mental health care for veterans. Joe Schaler of the CIVC, shared a story of a Marine veteran they were able to help recently who was passing through Lincoln. The veteran’s car broke down while he was passing through town on Old Route 66. Unsure of what to do, the veteran took to Facebook and found someone in town who was also a veteran. After the stranded veteran reached out to this individual, this person reached out to Schaler. Over the course of the next few days, they were able to get the veteran a place to stay, and his vehicle fixed.

Schaler and the CIVC have not only helped provide housing and other services to the veterans in Lincoln but have helped to create a community among the veterans in our area to support one another.

The building on Fifth Street is the most recent project the CIVC has undertaken to help expand their veteran services. Schaler stated he is hoping to have at least 50 rooms for veterans once this project is completed.

The timeline on the renovations of these rooms is a bit uncertain. Schaler stated the rooms will be renovated as there is need for them. Community members in need will also be able to occupy these rooms, and this is where the larger purpose of this building really begins to show. Rooms will be set aside for people in the community who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless. While the CIVC was the first organization to show interest in this property, they have since reached out to many other organizations in the community to help the building reach its fullest potential.

Some of these organizations include Carle Health, Regional Housing and Supportive Services (RHSS), Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine, Lincoln Memorial Hospital, and the Salvation Army, among many others. Schaler and Kim Turner, Director of Court Services in the Logan County Probation Office, shared the vision they have for the building, wanting to make it into a shelter that can offer many different services.

Schaler and Turner expanded on the hopes and plans they have with the other organizations in our community, providing more detail on what these partnerships could look like in practice. Schaler and Turner shared they would hope the Salvation Army could eventually open and operate a food pantry out of the Fifth Street building.

The building has a large kitchen meant to cook for over 100 people. This would give the Salvation Army a space in Lincoln in addition to their current Keest Center on Kickapoo Street.

Another organization they wanted to partner with is Memorial Behavioral Health. The goal would be to design and operate a living room. If you are not aware, a living room is a crisis center that offers people in the community currently experiencing a mental health crisis an alternative to being hospitalized. While this living room would be available to veterans and those residing in the building, it would be accessible by every member of the community.

The pair is also hoping SIU could open a medical clinic and possibly a dental clinic on site. With these partnerships, the CIVC and other organizations could invest further in our community.

This project is a very large undertaking. Schaler and the CIVC are always looking for new ways to help push this project closer to completion.

This Fifth Street project was accepted into a learning collaborative program through the GAINS foundation. Turner helped the CIVC apply for this, and they were one of five chosen across the entire country. While this does not provide the project with any monetary funding, it does provide them with technical support.

Schaler also stated help is always wanted and needed from the members of the community. If you have a desire to help the CIVC with this project, Schaler shared two ways you could do so.

The first is through monetary donations. If you would like to contribute to the project, the CIVC has a PayPal account for online donations that you can contribute to here.

If you would prefer to write a check, it can be dropped off at either the CIVC office at 120 South McLean Street or Heartland Bank and Trust, 508 Broadway Street in Lincoln.

Further details on how to donate in this way can be found here under the section titled “How to get involved.” The other way you can donate is through your time. If you feel you have a skill that may be helpful to the CIVC with this project and would like to donate that skill and some time, you may call [phone].

[Matt Booutcher]