As architecture goes, there is nothing eye-catching about the squat concrete building just a few blocks from West Colfax Avenue and Federal Boulevard.
But it houses something invaluable to any homeless woman in Denver.
That would be The Delores Project. It provides shelter and a hot meal to 50 women a night who otherwise would be on the streets, where too often, it’s more than the weather that is ice cold.
“Any time of the year, we’re full,” executive director Terrell Curtis told me as we walked through the shelter’s dorm area. “Frankly, one of our big needs is more sleeping pads for the floor, since most nights each bed is occupied.”
Especially this week, when the mercury plummeted to 19 below one night and took its time rising above the freezing mark during the day.
Curtis has headed The Delores Project for 18 months, arriving after an eight-year stint at the Gathering Place, a Denver agency that helps homeless women and their children.
“We get calls every day from women who are homeless for the first time,” she said. “Often we find out that they’ve been staying with a cousin, or in a car, or in a motel with a husband who has now left them.
“They find the net they’ve woven for themselves has finally unraveled and they have no place else to go.”
Except The Delores Project.
The shelter was founded in January 2000. It was named after Delores Big Boy, a Lakota woman who had died on the streets six months earlier after a lifetime of abuse and health and drug issues.
After bouncing around among some borrowed facilities, the agency opened its current home Dec. 20, 2006. If you find that date familiar, there’s a reason: That was the night the Christmas blizzard hit and dumped 2 feet of snow on Denver.
In 2007, the shelter served 532 women. Considering that Denver counts about 550 homeless women in its ranks — agency workers will tell you there are more — it’s a remarkable bit of outreach.
At noon Tuesday, the shelter was empty. During the day, the women leave to attend GED or job-training classes, search for permanent housing, or meet with counselors and, on occasion, parole officers.
Curtis, 44, does not have a background in social services. An art- history major in college, she started as an events manager at the Gathering Place and found herself fascinated.
“This was just my personal journey after getting to know these women,” she said. “They all have their own stories. The thing I’ve found is that I have way more in common with them than I do differences.”
The Delores Project has a $600,000 annual budget. About half the money comes from individual and corporate contributions. The rest comes from foundation grants.
Curtis knows those grants will be harder to come by in the shelter’s next fiscal year, which begins in two weeks.
“We’re budgeting for less money,” she said. “There are some things we won’t be able to do next year, like hire a full-time caseworker, but we run such a lean operation that even donations of $5 help.”
I asked Curtis what made for a good day at the shelter.
“A woman poked her head in my office the other night and she looked like the cat who ate the canary,” Curtis said. “She said, ‘I got my apartment today and think I’ll get my keys on Saturday.’ ”
Want to help? You can visit the website at .
Reach William Porter at 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com.
