Cedar Rapids shelter celebrates project completion

A long time shelter for the homeless in Cedar Rapids celebrated a big achievement on Saturday.

The Willis Dady Emergency Shelter received one of the first I-JOBS grants to come to Cedar Rapids in the summer of 2009. And this weekend, shelter operators also became one of the first Cedar Rapids groups to finish work funded mainly with state dollars.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver personally delivered the good financial news about an I-JOBS grant to Willis Dady organizers in an appearance almost exactly one year ago. The Cedar Rapids shelter was one of a group of similar facilities statewide sharing approximately $10-million dollars in funding specifically for shelters. The amount from the state to Willis Dady in stimulus money was $300,000…or about 85 percent of the cost of the entire remodeling project.

As volunteers and workers celebrated the completion with a community event, resident attendant Denning Rushing said the new and rearranged space would make the job go much easier.

“We are able to do our job better because of the renovations. And when the guys come in, it's a lot more secure here than what it was before,” Rushing said.

Willis Dady is one of the few Cedar Rapids shelters offering a place to stay for both homeless men and families. About 25 percent of all the nightly shelter “stays” in all of Linn County happen at the Willis Dady facility. The I-JOBS funded renovations included rearranged office space, a new entryway and complete exterior remodeling. More insulation throughout should cut heating and cooling bills by at least a third.

Tim Wilson, shelter executive director, said “we're going to be able to provide much more security and much better services for our clients because we've got a structure that's really designed to be a homeless shelter.”

The Willis Dady facility started life as a halfway house built for the Iowa Department of Corrections. And the name's always confused some people.

Willis Dady wasn't the founder of the facility. Instead, he was a homeless man in Des Moines who lost his life in 1984 while trying to rescue someone who was drowning. The shelter founder actually named it in honor of Dady for his selfless act.

On Saturday, two of Dady's brothers visited the shelter for the very first time. Ted and Steve Dady said they were impressed and Steve added he knew how his brother would feel.

“He would be proud of what's going on today,” Steve Dady said, “they did a really good job.”