Eastview Christian Church plans to donate its community center on the corner of Main Street and Oakland Avenue to Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] this summer.
The exact timeline of the donation is unknown while Eastview and HSHM have ongoing conversations with groups who currently use the building.
Eastview purchased the community center, formerly the YMCA, in 2022 and opened its doors in 2023 after doing some renovations.
The purchase happened before current lead pastor Brandon Grant came to Eastview.
Grant said he thinks the purchase was made in hopes the community center would provide a place for organizations and ministries to gather and reach out in the surrounding area. Former senior paster Mike Baker told WGLT the center was envisioned as a hub for afterschool services, mentoring, sports, job skills and English language learning programs.
After Grant joined Eastview in 2024, he said there was a desire among Eastview staff and elders to partner with existing entities in the community who help underserved populations, as opposed to recreating something entirely.
“I think the assessment of all of that is kind of when we said, ‘I think it's best that we partner with Home Sweet Home in a significant way,’” Grant said. “They do a great job of really walking alongside of and moving towards rehabilitation of those who are in unhoused situations.”
HSHM had already been using the community center to provide services for its shelter residents such as showers and storage, establishing a relationship between the two organizations before the donation.
Grant said Eastview will let HSHM lead the way regarding the community center while having people from the church help in any capacity, and he hopes this resource will be beneficial.
Over the past couple years, Eastview put nearly $1 million in renovations into the building, according to Grant. The renovations included upgrading electrical systems and a brand new roof.
The building has some limitations, like an unusable former YMCA pool and no elevator, but is otherwise move-in ready.
HSHM CEO Matt Burgess said he has no financial concerns about the building’s structural integrity and expects that the main costs in the short-term will be utilities, insurance and basic maintenance over the next three to five years, all of which Burgess feels are expenses HSHM is fully able to cover.
Hub of services
Burgess said acquiring the community center’s parcel of land, including two parking lots near HSHM, creates a contiguous campus for HSHM’s homeless shelter and its newly-opened shelter village, The Bridge.
When the donation goes through, HSHM will own properties that serve the unhoused population on three adjacent blocks south of downtown Bloomington. This includes The Junction community center and Bread for Life food co-op.
“This district of the city is really developing into a hub of services and supports,” Burgess said.
Burgess added that HSHM is not the only service provider in that area—the Bloomington Public Library, Bloomington Housing Authority and City of Bloomington Township are all down the street.
Grant said he hopes the community center donation shows the Bloomington-Normal community that there is evidence of charity and a spirit of compassion to help people in the community.
Possible opportunities
Burgess said HSHM is already “dreaming big” about possible opportunities that will come from acquiring the building and land.
HSHM is a faith-based nonprofit whose mission is to instill hope, restore lives and build community. Burgess said that whatever the community center gets used for, it will align with that mission.
“One of the main things that we're considering is, long-term, could we develop that to expand the availability of affordable housing in the community to really make it attainable for some of our lower income neighbors that just are struggling significantly right now?” Burgess said. “But we don't know that that's for sure what we will do.”
Burgess added that supporting families experiencing homelessness is a major need in Bloomington-Normal, and expanding services to help them would be high on the list of priorities to consider.
Before HSHM locks in on any one idea, Burgess said he really wants to have an ongoing series of dialogs with partners, colleagues and municipalities.
“And of course, [we want to] talk to our neighbors about what's going on and what vision we as a community really have,” Burgess said.
