St. John’s Ministries, is a seasonal emergency shelter at its core, serving over 550 guests each year. It also provides wraparound services and forward-moving programming to over 1,000 community visitors each year. One of those locations is Wellspring, a place to empower women.
Over the last 10 years, St. John’s has seen a 44 percent increase in guests served and a 111 percent increase in women seeking services and resources. Due to the rising needs in the community, St. John’s expanded its services in 2018 with the purchase of Wellspring, a women’s specific resource center from Lutheran Social Services.
Since St. John’s purchased Wellspring, they have served hundreds of women and have over 4,000 visits each year. Each day Wellspring offers forward-moving programs such as; personal growth and support groups, nutrition and exercise classes, artistic and business development opportunities and game days focused on cognition and memory. Lunch is available daily and case management is provided and offered to each guest who visits.
Wellspring has peer support groups, community members provide resources and referrals, and there is a large computer lab and sobriety groups for those struggling with addiction. A unique opportunity exists with the Social Enterprise opportunity at the Farmers’ Market on Broadway. Wellspring guests can market and sell their crafts — guests keep 80 percent of the proceeds and the remainder goes back to Wellspring to offset the cost of having a booth.
It has become evident that the need for Wellspring exists, however, the need has quickly outgrown the current space provided. With the need for gender-specific programming throughout the community and a safe space for women experiencing trauma and abuse, in 2022 St. John’s Ministries chose to expand its services once more.
On July 6, 2022, St. John’s opened the doors to their new location on 700 E. Walnut St. dedicated to women. Wellspring and a 55-bed Women’s Shelter will be at that location. The new space has additional square footage and multiple programming rooms, allowing for workshops and classes, meetings and peer support groups.
Courtney Mabie, St. John’s Ministries Wellspring Office Manager is excited to unlock the full potential of the new location, “The space is really exciting, as it allows us to grow in our capacity, services offered, as well as cater to the guests as a whole and individually.”
“We will be able to better equip, encourage and empower women by providing more dedicated programming space,” added Carissa Klika, St. John’s Ministries Case Manager.
St. John’s Ministries is excited for this new chapter in the history of Wellspring. The ability to provide a safe community space for an individual to feel dignified, know hope is possible and create lasting change in their life is important.
Wellspring is a safe community space to empower women.
