The Next 25 Years

By on January 20th, 2025 in News

As of January 24, 2025, Beacon is a quarter century old!!!

I am as excited as I’ve ever been about Beacon. A quarter century in, your impact through your support of Beacon has never been greater!

There are so many indicators of the work we accomplish together, so many services that never get measured, but I use something I call the Big Three (meals, shelter, housing) to mark so much of what we all do.

In 25 years, your support has helped us serve over 1,520,493 meals.

In 25 years, or more technically, dating back to 2016 when we opened Friend’s Place, your support has provided at least 130,386 nights of shelter. And if we had the data to count days of shelter, it would be in the millions.

And perhaps most importantly, in 25 years, your support has housed or prevented homelessness for more than 14,329 children and adults.

That’s incredible, my friends.

And… we are just getting started!!

The new Beacon Center is the beginning of our next phase, not the end. It is our launching pad. It is our propeller. It is our trampoline. It is our bouncy house into the future!! And what an exciting bouncy house it will be!!

The 45,000 square foot multi-service center will be located at 1201 W Third St, just south of Rose Hill Cemetery, right near the landmark everyone knows, Cresent Donuts.

The Center will feature 25 new apartments, 50 shelter beds with options for many more severe weather beds as needed, and fulfilling a long-term dream in our community, a day center where services co-locate together to work for common cause, including HealthNet, Centerstone, and the Bloomington Downtown Police Officers and Social Workers. The Center will also feature an employment center, a multi-faith chapel, a family room, a day sleep room, a dog kennel, a classroom, and a training kitchen.

All of this will serve to build on Beacon’s foundational premise to be solutions-driven – not just a bed but a home, not just a meal but a job, not just a place to survive but thrive, a home base for a home run.

Beacon’s move into the future will be to not just care for the body, but the mind, and the heart, and the soul… a guest can ask not just how do I live, but why… a place of protection and purpose… of bread and meaning.

I wholeheartedly invite you to join us for the ride.