What is going on with the old Hospitality Hub building next to Calvary’s staff parking lot? For the last eight years, we rented the space to the Hospitality Hub for $1/year. Now that the Hub has moved to 590 Washington Avenue at the old inspection station, Calvary’s vestry has re-thought the use of the space for the next few years.
We received a grant from the Lichterman-Loewenberg Foundation to make basic repairs to the roof. There were holes in the floor, holes in the walls, and holes in the roof. Calvary Outreach’s CARES grant bought washers and dryers, a refrigerator, microwave, sink, and dishwashers for a kitchenette in the space. Celeste Von Ahnen has been working to clean the space and demolish existing walls. Architects John Pruett, Matt Seltzer, and John Welcher have been working to create a basic interim design using as much as they can of what is there already. It will be a place for youth groups from far away doing mission work in Memphis to stay with showers.
Betty Jo & Terri Dulaney, Richard Hendricks, and Mary Jane Viar lead Calvary’s Room in the Ministry. They will host Calvary’s Room in the Inn in this space for the next few years. Other congregations and groups of faith might need a place for their volunteers to welcome neighbors experiencing homelessness through Room in the Inn in the same way Idlewild Presbyterian hosted here for two years before they bought their own beds to host at their own house of worship. Please let your friends of other faiths know that they will be welcome to host RITI at Calvary. After a few years, Calvary’s vestry may decide on another plan for the Welcome Inn space, but in the meantime, the Welcome Inn will provide another way for Calvary to continue making God’s love visible in downtown Memphis.
