St. John Center shines on after 25 years of lighting the way for homeless men

Our 25th anniversary open house was a huge success. 350 people from the community stopped by to celebrate St. John Center's past and bright future. 

Housed in a former Catholic church building built in the mid-1800’s, St. John Center has been recently renovated and is ready to welcome the community to reflect on its rich, 25-year history of service and to look ahead to its bright future.

 “This anniversary year has given us the opportunity to reflect upon the great service St. John Center has given the community by helping homeless men improve their lives,” said Maria Price, Executive Director. “When more than 1 in 4 of Kentucky's children now lives in poverty, unfortunately, we have reason to believe our services will be needed long into the future.  So this also has been a time to recommit ourselves to providing the best possible opportunities to help homeless men move into housing and leave homelessness for good.”  

“We also took the opportunity to introduce our new logo at this event,” said Jennifer Nickel, the agency’s director of marketing and communications. “The logo, designed by Stewart and Associates, expresses both personality and purpose: a protected place, a hub of services, a warm and caring daytime refuge for men. We've incorporated it into the new signage on the building and other uses of the new logo and design are coming soon.” 

More than $25,000 raised from Lockard Family Golf Invitational

We had the perfect weather for this year's Lockard Family Golf Invitational. Nearly 25 teams enjoyed lunch, golf and a silent auction at the Shelbyville Country Club. The Lockard family generously organizes this event annually, and 100% of the proceeds benefit St. John Center.

Ceiling project is complete

The St. John Center staff was told in advance that repairing and painting the ceiling in our building would take at least three months and require 30 tons of scaffolding.  Even with that knowledge, it is doubtful anyone accurately envisioned the sheer size and scope of the project.

Our guests and staff are to be commended for taking the upheaval in stride.  There were fewer tables and chairs, more noise and dust, but the maze of scaffolding is now gone.  It certainly was trying at times, but  we've gotten through it without any major interruption of the valuable services so many have come to expect from St. John Center in the last 25 years.

As the scaffolding was lowered and taken away, you could see the progress we've made. Slowly but surely decades of dust, cracked plaster and peeling paint gave way to smooth surfaces and clean, bright colors.

Come take a look at the beautiful finished product.