New homeless shelter breaks ground in Ogden

The Imagination Co.

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Dignitaries dig in during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lantern House/St. Anne's Center in Ogden, which will serve as a soup kitchen and homeless shelter. Courtesy photo/The Imagination Co.

OGDEN — For 30 years, St. Anne’s Center has served the homeless in northern Utah. Now, the homeless shelter and soup kitchen is in the process of getting a new name as well as a new facility.

On April 22, the ceremonial groundbreaking was held for the Lantern House/St. Anne’s Center, located on a 5-acre site at 33rd Street and Pacific Avenue in Ogden.

"The reason it’s necessary is because the present St. Anne’s was built in 1995 with lots of labor of love," said Kay Lipman. She and her husband, Allan Lipman, are volunteer chair people for the Lantern House capital campaign. "It wasn’t really built to commercial quality; it was more like a home, and it’s falling apart. We say now it’s woefully inadequate – beyond repair. You can’t repair it. And it’s just too small in size. We have four family rooms, and we are presently sleeping 17 families. We sleep two and three in a room – 12 by 12 – and the rest on the dining room floor."

Contrary to popular perception, families comprise 45 percent of Utah’s homeless population, and 88 percent were residents of the state when they became homeless, according to state statistics. In 2012, 136 families stayed at St. Anne’s for an average of 24 days; on an average night two to three families sleep on mats in the dining hall.

"It’s just so heartbreaking to see them lying on the floor," Kay Lipman said.

The current St. Anne’s men’s dorm has 72 beds, which are full every night, she said. "We sleep the overflow on the floor in the lobby."

"The other reason we’re building this bigger is because our soup kitchen serves between 150 to 200 meals every noon to the community at large, and we seat 60," she added. "So they stand out in the snow, in the rain, in the heat, in the wind and they wait to be let in for food, and they’re just very grateful. They say, ‘This is the only hot meal I get a day.’"

The new two-story facility will include a kitchen/dining room that will seat 220 people, larger dormitories for single men and women, and 14 family rooms, as well as an outdoor play area for children and a pet playground and kennel.

The pet area is being sponsored by Behnken/American Nutrition; the Lipmans said it’s a necessary part of the new facility.

"A lot of them, that’s the only friend they have," Allan Lipman said. "An animal gives unconditional love."

In the past, people who stay at St. Anne’s have told Kay Lipman that they can’t go to a job interview "because they don’t know what to do with their pet," she said.

The capital campaign was launched in 2010 with a $1.5 million donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since then, the Lipmans have been working to raise funds to meet a $1 million matching grant from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation. Other major funding came from the State of Utah, while Ogden City donated the land for the new facility.

At the groundbreaking, Kay Lipman announced a new donation of $400,000 from an anonymous source "who have a deep compassion for the homeless," she said.

Construction on the Lantern House is expected to be complete in 10 months. Donations for the capital campaign are still being accepted; $6 million of the $7 million already has been raised.

To donate, call St. Anne’s Center at 801-621-5036 or visit www.StAnnesCenter.org.