Wheeler Mission in Bloomington, which sheltered 625 men in Bloomington in 2024, is expanding.
The Mission has raised about $3.4 million of its $4.25 million goal.
The announcement was made last week at the kickoff to its campaign “Transforming Lives Building Hope.” The expansion doesn’t include more beds. Dana Jones, shelter director, said it will add office spaces and private exam rooms for case managers and service providers, such as Centerstone and Healthnet.
When Wheeler came to Bloomington in 2015 and merged with Agape House and BackStreet Mission. It's increased the shelter’s capacity from 20 beds then to 80 beds in its emergency shelter and 32 beds in its program building.
The expansion overwhelmed programming, Jones said. Of the more than 600 men who stayed at Wheeler in 2024, 41 percent received services. Because of staffing limitations, about half of the beds in the program building are usually filled.
Especially after COVID-19, Jones said Wheeler saw growing needs of the men served.
“It wasn't that the numbers were continually growing, but the problems that they were suffering with were growing greater,” he said. “So, each individual person had greater issues developed. Like someone who may have had mild mental illness now was experiencing severe mental illness.”
Wheeler expanded in 2021, using a federal grant to purchase two neighboring buildings on Westplex Avenue. This expansion also did not increase bed capacity. It moved beds to one of the new buildings to increase service capacity in the main building.
This remodel will add security measures: installation of perimeter fencing, a welcome center to check people in, controlled entry points, upgraded surveillance, and installation of personal locker space for guests.
Jones said Wheeler Bloomington, which serves upwards of 60,000 meals annually, wants to upgrade its dining and cafeteria. The upgrade will allow for work-readiness training for guests.
“Hopefully at some point, our dream is that we'll be able to establish a relationship with Ivy Tech so we'll get vocational culinary skills programs developed in there as well, so that men can be equipped to not just work at McDonald's, but to work in other culinary fields.”
Read more: "It hurts": Bloomington Wheeler Mission ends shelter services for women this week
The fundraising will go to increasing classroom space and long-term residential programs the shelter can offer, too, Jones said.
