Christy Raslavsky, an ASU education graduate student, hopes that by Christmas time she'll be able to welcome more pregnant mothers to the Phoenix shelter where she lives and works.
Raslavsky is one of the founding members of Maggie's Place at 1419 E. Garfield St. The shelter opened more than a year ago and currently has room for six or seven expectant mothers along with the five full-time volunteer staff members who live at the house.
The shelter receives about a dozen calls per week from pregnant women seeking housing and has to turn them away, Raslavsky said. With the new addition of a four-unit apartment complex purchased in June, six more mothers and babies will be able to have their own rooms.
"The new addition will enable us to double in size and serve twice as many moms," she said.
Pregnant women who are homeless or in need of temporary shelter call Maggie's Place. Those who move in usually stay for six to eight months. The women receive access to prenatal care, job placement services and other tools to help them become self-sufficient parents.
The apartments, located next to the Maggie's Place house, were purchased with about $120,000 in private donations the shelter received in its first year. Volunteers will repair the wiring and plumbing in the 20-year-old building by December. Private donations have helped keep renovation costs to the shelter under $5,000.
Mary Peterson, co-founder of the shelter, said the new apartment building would help the new mothers become self-sufficient.
"The apartments provide the bridge to the moms between the intense living community of the house to independence to ensure that as they're moving out they're still connected to the community," Peterson said.
Privacy and space concerns also made the need for a new addition clear, Raslavsky said.
"It's a little hard with the lack of privacy," she said. "Anytime you get 12 to 15 people of different backgrounds living in one house, even minor things such as where you put dirty dishes become an issue.
"They (the expectant mothers) come in at various points in their pregnancies, we've had moms from one month pregnant to two days before their babies are born, move in," Raslavsky added. "There's a constant state of flux around here."
Raslavsky said the first year at Maggie's Place has housed 32 babies and has been rewarding.
"It's amazing to see people turn their lives around and get back on their feet," she added.
Reach Sara Thorson at
sara.thorson@asu.edu.
