YWCA gets $10,000 toward remodeling

Remodeling the YWCA is intended to do more than make it more habitable for the women who arrive on its doorstep without a place to live.

Kellie Goodwin McBride, the organizations executive director, sits in her office and talks about the need for renovation and the role that the YWCA of Helena plays in the community. Above her, a light bulb, encased in a yellow plastic cage to protect it, hangs from its wire. This is the overhead light in her office that barely accommodates her desk and two other chairs.

I dont want our residents, the women we serve, ever having that, McBride said.

We need to serve the women we are serving with respect and dignity, she added.

The light bulb could be a daily reminder of the work that the building needs. The plumbing is so old it cant accommodate a dishwasher or garbage disposal. The steam heaters need attention even though the building replaced its boiler in 2008. The kitchen is tiny, hardly more than 8 feet wide and 16 feet long smaller than the kitchen in McBrides home.

And in the dining room, six refrigerators and a freezer line the walls, humming with slightly different tones as compressors click on.

The need for enlarging the rooms where the women live was made clear by a woman who, after being released from prison, was staying at the YWCA and asked if a larger room was available. The room she was in, she explained to McBride, reminded her of her former prison cell.

The $3 million renovation thats scheduled to begin in November and last perhaps up to six months will provide larger and more habitable rooms for the women and those with children who call the YWCA home. The architect for the project is Jason Davis with SMA Architects in Helena.

But even with remodeling scheduled for this fall, the organization still needs to find nearly half of the projected cost.

Grants and fundraising have brought in about $1.7 million, McBride said. The organization still needs $1.3 million.

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YWCA gets $10,000 toward remodeling