Mayor Randall Woodfin says new Firehouse Ministries facility is about “rebirth, hope” at groundbreaking
Mayor Randall Woodfin called the new Firehouse Ministries facility “the light this community needs” during a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, Dec. 21 at 66 2nd Avenue North.
Photos by Daniel Roth, City of Birmingham
“This project is about rebirth; this project is about hope. It’s not about politics or agendas,” the mayor said at the event, which coincided with Firehouse Shelter’s 35th anniversary. He was joined at the event by several city officials and Firehouse staff.
Last month the Birmingham City Council voted to award Firehouse $200,000 annually over the next five years.
The new facility is scheduled to be completed in late 2019 and will be located a few blocks away from the current shelter at 1501 3rd Avenue North. The shelter serves lunch and dinner to men, women and children and also hosts men nightly. The facility currently houses around 50 men each night; the new facility will be able to accommodate twice that amount.
“It’s not OK for our youth and our veterans and our dads and fathers to have to try to get back on their feet in our much loved but our crumbling shelter,” said Anne Wright Rygiel, executive director of Firehouse Ministrites. “We do need to invest in the forgotten.”
“Things needs to change because Birmingham is change,” she added.
Melvin Harris, a former resident of Firehouse Shelter who now works on the staff, talked about how transformative the facility has been in his life, providing him with “an opportunity to give back to the streets of Birmingham.”
“To me this is not a job, it’s an opportunity,” he said. “I serve because I want to serve. I’m glad to serve because when I came there they served me.”
“We can’t overlook the importance of restoring hope,” Mayor Woodfin added. “It’s the intangible of hope that allows our city to progress. Today’s groundbreaking symbolizes that – an opportunity for those in need of care to receive help.”
