DONORS, VOLUNTEERS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS GATHERING TO CELEBRATE THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW BUILDING TO EXPAND THE SIXTH STREET SHELTER

Community leaders will gather to celebrate the progress that has been made on the expansion of the Sixth Street Shelter and the partnerships that have made the project possible on Tuesday, June 11, 2013, at 4:30 PM at 221-223 North Sixth Street in Allentown. Speakers at the event will include the Rev. Dr. Tony Sundermeier of First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, Deb Cummins, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley, Ron Jerdon, president of Jerdon Construction Services LLC, and Mayor Ed Pawlowski. A time capsule will be created at the celebration. The time capsule will only be discovered if a future generation demolishes the building. It will be filled with items relevant to our times and a message of hope that homelessness has been eradicated by the time the capsule is discovered and opened. The expansion of the shelter has been made possible through the generosity of many donors, volunteers, and community partners. Jessica R. Dreistadt, director of the shelter, said, "We wish we didn't have a need to expand the shelter, but the enthusiastic involvement of so many people in our community is a cause to celebrate." The blighted building at 221-223 North Sixth Street in Allentown was razed on Tuesday, April 23, to make room for the new building. Through this expansion project, the shelter will be able to serve an additional 30 families each year. Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, and Sons of a Carpenter are providing much of the labor for the project from June 3 through June 17 and will be on site the day of the event. Jerdon Construction Services LLC is the general contractor for the project; construction will be completed in September. The Sixth Street Shelter, a program of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, was established in 1984 to provide 60 days of shelter and an array of services designed to assist families with children to make the transition from crisis to stability. The agency also operates two long-term transitional housing programs in Allentown and Easton that provide families with vocational services to enable them to move toward self-sufficiency.