Home » News » Waupaca News » Women’s shelter to open

Women’s shelter to open

Foundations for Living will open a women’s shelter in Waupaca. Submitted Photo

Waupaca Common Council approves project

By Robert Cloud

Foundations for Living obtained approval Nov. 15 from the Waupaca Common Council to open a women’s shelter.

Located at 1310 Royalton St., the shelter will be known as the Middleton House.

It is named after Doug and Florence Middleton, who donated the two-story, 2,048-square-foot home to Foundations for Living.

The building was formerly used by the Waupaca Pregnancy Information Center and later Hair of the Dog Pet Grooming.

“We saw a need because the city of Waupaca doesn’t have an overnight shelter for women,” according to Bob Adams, executive director of Foundations for Living.

He said the project will “test pilot a women’s shelter in Waupaca.”

With four bedrooms, Middleton House has a total capacity of six people, which includes room for children.

While shelter organizers expect most of the women they serve will be single, Adams noted one of the bedrooms will be dedicated to women who have children.

Foundations for Living currently operates a warming center at 1421 Churchill St.

The center is open to guests from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 30.

Women’s shelter open year-round

The women’s shelter will be open year-round, 24 hours a day.

As with the warming shelter, staff at the Middleton House will provide help with finding employment, case management, programs on decision-making skills, recovery coaching and support groups.

Another goal will be to help the women who come to the shelter find permanent housing, such as an affordable apartment.

There will be two full-time staff working at the Middleton House, as well as a house parent who will be on-site at night and volunteers who will help with upkeep.

Adams said the organization “kept the project under wraps” until the city council approved it.

“The last thing we wanted to do was to promote this without proper clearance,” he said. “Should the city have not approved our plans, we would have felt very bad about our donors giving to a project that was not going to go anywhere.”

Raising funds for shelter

Foundations for Living estimates it will cost $200,000 to renovate the house and convert it into a shelter.

They are raising money by naming rooms after donors.

The four bedrooms can be sponsored for $5,000, the resource center is $7,000, the living room is $5,000 and the office is $5,000.

Somebody has already agreed to sponsor the kitchen.

Adams said two professional contractors will do the work.

Middleton House is plans to open in the summer of 2023.

For more information on how to become a sponsor, contact Foundations for Living at 715-942-2725 or email [email protected].

Scroll to Top