We are thankful for all the donations toward this project thus far, including $300,000 from the John T. Vucurevich Foundation and $300,000 from The Sunshine Lady Foundation!
Opening Remarks for Passages Place Groundbreaking by Marge Beam July 1, 2021
Good morning everyone! Welcome to the Groundbreaking Ceremony for our new residential building for Passages Women’s Transitional Living program - Passages Place.
It is truly a blessing to have all of you here with us on this beautiful day. Joining us in our celebration this morning, we are pleased to have with us some very special guests: Dr. Don VanEtten, Passages Board Chair; Debbie Speas, Passages Vice-Chair; Jim Scull, General Contractor; Steve Allender, Rapid City Mayor; Kevin Thom, Pennington County Sherriff; Don Hedrick, Rapid City Police Chief; Staff member - Dana Musch and Micki Harlow; Passages Board members, Rapid City Council members, State Representatives (if they are able to attend); representatives from the Vucurevich Foundation; and our major donors who have been main contributors to our building fund as well as the business that have partnered with us for supplies and labor.
I want to give a special recognition to: Mayor Allender and the Rapid City Council for the donation of this land. Jim Scull and Scull Construction for all the time and energy they have put into this project; JLG Architecture - Alicia Speas for the design.
Special recognition also goes to the Sunshine Lady Foundation - who could not have a representative here today and the John T. Vucurevich Foundation - (Alan Solano and Jessica Olson). Both these foundations granted $300,000 each to Passages so that we can achieve our goal for Passages Place.
A group of people over 13 years ago saw a cycle of women returning to prison and jail after having no support when in the re-entry after incarceration. This lead to a search for solutions so that women could have more support and a safe living environment when they are trying to make life style changes.
The vision for Passages began in 2008 with a community meeting where the need for such a program was recognized and Passages opened it’s doors in April 2013 in a rented house, where we can house 7 women and a very small office. Thank you to Brad Klassen for being a generous landlord for the last 8+years.
In the beginning of the birth of Passages there were a lot of community members involved in the many planning meetings and forming of the non-profit. Thank you to Dennis and Carol Kelly, Sharon Jenks, Carol Black, Janyce Hochenbary, Janice Harackavich, Ruthie Craig, Bob and Rita Fischer, Annie Goeble, Micki Harlow,…just to name a few, there are countless others and my apologies for not being able to list every name, as they were all important.
We do appreciate every moment that each community member spent on the formation and planning of Passages. As Mayor Allender told me wisely, before we opened our doors - when he was Chief of Police - “this is a community problem and it takes a community solution.” Thank you Mayor Allender for your encouragement and advise from the beginning of Passages.
The mission of Passages is to guide and support women through a transformational process for positive sustainable life-change.
Eight years ago we talked about a vision for Passages so that we could serve more women and have a place where we could house 10-15 women to have a safe living environment to learn new life skills and grow in their recovery process with structure and guidance. A building that would be phase one with the offices and classrooms under the same roof as new incoming women and a separate area for women who were well into their life style changes. We had a vision of the ability to add further wings for future growth.
I said “Oh Lord, that would take a big chunk of land!!! —- where in the world are we going to get that!!!”
A meeting between Don Van Etten and Mayor Allender has led to us standing here today on that nice chunk of land, ready to break ground and build that dream come true! God is good!
When the building is complete we will be able to house 14 program participants, have a separate living area for a resident assistant with her own private bathroom and living area, 2 laundry rooms, and for every two women we will have a bathroom to share just between the two of them. There will be a conference/classroom, offices, a security system, storage areas and a well designed kitchen with a built in commercial coffee station donated by Bunn- Coffee Makers.
Passage Place will be a new beginning for many daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers and friends for generations to come. For every woman who changes her life at Passages it has a positive effect on her community. The possibilities for growth and a future will be an endless positive effect for the Rapid City area.
So with praise and thanksgiving to God and a sincere gratitude to all who have worked so hard to bring us to this moment, let us recommit ourselves to this great project that will serve this community for years to come.