When a neighbor asked Lynette Ortiz to pick up food from ACTS Resource Center’s food bank, the crack addict did the favor and found hope.
“I ended up staying here, and since I started, I haven’t hit the pipe,” Ortiz, who is now operations manager for the nonprofit, said Sunday.
But the center — which feeds 10,000 people a month; houses 25 homeless men; offers emergency, overnight shelter; and provides religious and other support to those who are struggling — is in peril.
The 12,000-square-foot former New Life in Christ Church at 2450 Clay St. has been purchased, and ACTS must find a new home, said executive director Nancy Roble Hortman.
“Closing the doors to over 10,000 people in the Denver metro area should not have to be an option,” Roble Hortman said.
ACTS has been paying $3,300 a month in rent for the space, which it moved into in January 2009. It is also home to the Bond of Love church.
“We had been hoping we would get some funds together to purchase the building, but another group is buying it so we need to find another home quickly. We have got until Feb. 1 to do that,” she said.
The homeless who seek help at the facility come from all walks of life, said Michael “Iron Mike” Hoffmeister, 58, who heads the organization’s food program. “Life has just really kicked them in the slats,” the retired engineer said.
While the average stay was once 60 days, it has grown to 120 days, a sign of the difficulty residents face getting work, Hoffmeister said.
James Lopez, 59, a Vietnam War veteran, had worked at the same print shop for 25 years before it went bankrupt. After losing his home, he lived for two years with different family members.
For the past four months he has lived at the ACTS shelter. He now works for Veterans Green Jobs, where he provides information on free weatherization and other programs that help low-income families cut their heating bills.
When an ACTS resident finds a job, he can stay at the shelter for 90 days, a grace period allowing him to save money needed to rent an apartment.
None of those who work for ACTS are paid. “We would like to get funding to make that happen,” Roble Hortman said.
Ortiz, 43, said she tries not to think about a future without ACTS. “This is what has turned my life around.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
