Plumbing crisis creates funding need for First Christian Church

There are a lot of things necessary to make an emergency shelter work: a suitable building, staff, beds, services, supplies. And toilets.

It was a problem with the plumbing that created a crisis for the Interfaith Works Emergency Overnight Shelter and its host, the First Christian Church on Franklin Street in Olympia.

The church was built in 1927, said Mary Ybarra, the church’s office administrator. The basement, where the shelter is housed, was originally used for classrooms and Sunday school “once or twice a week for a couple of hours,” Ybarra said.

The shelter now houses 37 people every day from 4:30 p.m.-7 a.m.

And the pipes just weren’t up to it. Toilets and drains were regularly overflowing with raw sewage, Ybarra said. A couple of times, portable toilets had to be brought in on short notice.

Now, after spending $56,000, everything works. But the project that replaced storm drain lines and sewage pipes has put a big financial burden on the church, Ybarra said. The church has started a Go Fund Me account to help pay for the repairs.

Guests at the shelter have their own personal space where they can leave their belongings. In a maze of hallways and rooms, the shelter is divided into dorms for men, women and families. Guests are allowed to bring their pets. There’s a lounge area, but there are no showers or kitchen facilities. Community members often bring in meals.

“It’s pack in, pack out,” Martin said.

The repairs required digging up the parking lot and digging through basement floors, closing access to some parts of the shelter. At one point, the main hallway was off limits for three days. Residents had to walk through other dorms.

It was very disruptive to the residents, program director Meg Martin said.

“We serve highly vulnerable people, based on their level of need,” Martin said. Shelter residents have severe mental health challenges, chronic illnesses or disabilities, or are older, she said, so keeping a routine and a sense of safety is crucial. For a time, only a few toilets were available near the women’s dorm, and they were up a couple of stairs.

“We have for months dealt with toilets overflowing on a daily basis,” Martin said.

For the staff that had to clean it up, “it was a huge burden,” Martin said.

Ybarra stressed that serving the community is a key mission for the church, which also hosts several smaller congregations and multiple 12-step meetings. The plumbing problem threatened the ability of the church to continue to host the shelter.

“This wasn’t fun or glamorous,” Ybarra said. “You can’t see pretty pieces of porcelain.

“The toilets now flush, which, believe me, is pretty wonderful,” she said.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Plumbing crisis creates funding need for First Christian Church."