(Spirit Lake)– A groundbreaking ceremony was held today (Saturday) in Spirit Lake for Shepherd Fold Ministry’s Cherish House project at 2602 Sunner Avenue.
Jan Turner, Executive Director of Shepherd’s Fold, says construction is expected to start in the next couple of weeks with completion slated for late August if things go accordingly.
Turner says they had to overcome several challenges prior to getting to this point. One of those, she says, was a last minute change in location for the facility. Original plans called for it to be built on land donated by First Lutheran Church in Milford. That lot is located in West Okoboji. Turner says they were unable to get it rezoned to multi-family residential, which is needed for such a project. As a result, she says they had to look for a new location and settled on the one in Spirit Lake a couple blocks east of Lakes Regional Healthcare.
A capital funds drive for the project resulted in more than 400-thousand dollars being raised which included a 40-thousand dollar grant from Avera and 10-thousand from the University of Okoboji Foundation.
While they have the funds needed for construction, Turner says a fundraising campaign for the facility’s operating fund will be on-going.
Cherish House will serve as a maternity home for teens with unplanned pregnancies.
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