We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the outpouring of generosity for our Joshua Station children and parents who are healing from their traumatic experiences of homelessness. In the final week of the campaign, we went from 20% of our $90k goal to our final tally of $121,253! You lovingly responded, allowing us to provide the housing, support, and safety that each of our precious residents need at this critical time in their lives.

At our fun and meaningful evening celebration last week, several staff members shared current glimpses of life at Joshua Station as well as some big upcoming plans:

Mary Ann Mosquera, Joshua Station Family Advocate

I do this work because there are many families right now who are struggling. I work with 11 families and they’re all different, but they all have some kind of need for advocacy. I provide resources that help them figure out how to go forward with their lives. It gives me a sense of fulfillment when I meet with them and share with them that hey, you can do this! It’s going take some time, it’s going take some effort—but you can do this.

Recently a resident came to me very excited, and I asked her why. “I got my GED!” she told me. Moments like that are why I want to be here.

Grace Dean, Joshua Station Youth Advocate

I love the way that our kids interact with each other. They want to form community and friendships, and they have this commonality that they’re all here at this stage in their lives.

We have a little boy who recently turned six, so he’s now able to engage in our afterschool program, tutoring program, and everything else. He’s the youngest one there, but he just lights up the room—sharing with compassion and caring with other kids. He helps, and he’s bossing around a little bit too. And I’m thinking, “We need to remind you, you were five like two days ago!” That little boy really touches me.

Amy Jackson, Joshua Station Program Director

I’ve been here almost ten years. We get to work with families over a long period of time, and that allows us to see a lot of growth. It allows us to confront some things together, and to overcome challenges and barriers. For our residents, moving from point A to point B often involves discovering something about themselves that they didn’t believe to be true. We talk about the word beauty around here. Part of that is discovering their beauty within, and we get to be a part of the process.

A lot is happening at Joshua Station this year, including unfortunate things! First and foremost, our upper walkways are falling apart, and we have no choice but to replace them. We are piecing together the finances; we’re looking at over a million dollars. Thankfully the city has brought some money to the table, and we’re also working with a foundation partner. We have the majority of it covered, but we’re about $300,000 short. We are trying to figure out ways to close that gap.

Not only is it a costly project, it is a logistical challenge when we have thirty families living on this property. What do we do with our families when they can’t live here? Thanks to our partner foundation, we have some money to relocate our families offsite in extended stay motels. It’s not ideal, but we’ll relocate about ten families at a time in three phases, from May until early fall.

Then in terms of services, how do you do youth programming when kids are in a motel? How do you continue family advocacy and mental health support and all that? The biggest thing on our hearts and minds these days is what will it be like not only to do our jobs, but even more for our families who call this place home?

In addition to the walkways, we’ve come to a point where we need a fence around our facilities. We’ve had a series of unfortunate events with a lot of costly damage. The cost of not having a secured facility has just gotten to be too much, so we’re taking on that project the same time we’re doing the walkways.

As you can see, there will be a lot happening around here this summer! But it’s an opportunity for a more secure, safe environment for our families.

Jeff Johnsen, Executive Director

 Joshua Station’s all about people. But we are thinking a lot about our building right now too, because it’s home to people. This building was an iconic mid-century modern roadside motel, built in 1961. A lot of these motels have fallen into disrepair over the years, as ours did until we bought it and fixed it up 25 years ago.

One such motel is in Memphis, Tennessee—the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. We’ve all seen those images of his body on the walkway that looks just like the upper walkway here. A few years ago, members of our team had the opportunity to go to the Lorraine and we were stunned by how much it’s like our twin sister! We just couldn’t believe it. We kept taking pictures because we felt like we could walk right into our offices in that building. In a way, Joshua Station is iconic as well. Our motel is a representative image of compassion, reminding us of people in our city who are in need.

Thanks to all of you who gave generously to our Spring Into Caring event on behalf of our resident families, and who encourage us along the way.