Nonprofits  January 30, 2025

Fort Collins Rescue Mission nears $27M in funding for new homeless shelter

FORT COLLINS — The Fort Collins Rescue Mission on Friday will officially kick off the remaining portion of its $27 fundraising campaign to help build a new homeless shelter in north Fort Collins.

The Rescue Mission, which has provided overnight shelter for 89 men in a 5,000-square-foot shelter near Old Town since 2012, is hoping to raise the final amounts needed to build a new facility that can handle up to 250 men overnight in a new complex that also will offer more beds, a new kitchen and social services to help men and women experiencing homelessness get back on their feet, said Stephen Hinkle, public relations manager for the Fort Collins Rescue Mission, 316 Jefferson St.

“We’re hoping to give people a chance out of homelessness before they surrender to the burden of homelessness. As our vision statement says, we aim to end homelessness one life at a time,” Seth Forwood, vice president of Fort Collins Rescue Mission, said in a news release.

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The mission has already raised $23.9 million through a variety of means from American Rescue Plan Act funds to federal, state and local grants to private donations, plus a land donation from the Bohemian Foundation.

It hopes to raise the remaining $3.1 million through private donations.

“The big thing at the end of the day is we don’t want to turn people away, and that is what has been happening,” Hinkle said. “The need is greater than the availability of resources we have. We want to provide better counseling, better case management, and those two things have outgrown the space we’re currently in.

“We’re going to put shovels in the ground when we get another $1.5 million to $2 million from the community,” Hinkle said.

The planned new 38,000-square-foot center, set to be built on Mason Street near the intersection of North College Avenue and Hibdon Court, will include a day center, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, need-based dormitories, private meeting space for intake and case management, offices for internal staff and external partners, trauma-informed design and more, the release stated.   

The center is being designed by Shopworks Architecture and will be constructed by JHL Constructors. Groundbreaking is anticipated later this year, but the exact date is contingent on continued fundraising success. 

The Fort Collins Rescue Mission on Friday will officially kick off the remaining portion of its $27 fundraising campaign to help build a new homeless shelter in north Fort Collins.

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Sharon Dunn is an award-winning journalist covering business, banking, real estate, energy, local government and crime in Northern Colorado since 1994. She began her journalism career in Alaska after graduating Metropolitan State College in Denver in 1992. She found her way back to Colorado, where she worked at the Greeley Tribune for 25 years. She has a master's degree in communications management from the University of Denver. She is married and has one grown daughter — and a beloved English pointer at her side while she writes. When not writing, you may find her enjoying embroidery and crochet projects, watching football, or kayaking and birdwatching on a high-mountain lake.
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