NEW ORLEANS, LA — The New Orleans Mission, with support from GARDNER REALTORS, celebrated its expanded Women’s Center and GARDNER Cottage during a press event today, held in the GARDNER Cottage field area. With this expansion, the New Orleans Mission’s Women’s Center doubles in the number of beds available, making it the largest shelter exclusively for women in the Greater New Orleans area.
“The rapidly climbing number of homeless women in New Orleans makes the expansion of the Women’s Center critical to our community,” said David Bottner, executive director for the New Orleans Mission. “These facilities will allow a more efficient way of helping the homeless in our community. We are so thankful to GARDNER REALTORS and the New Orleans community for making this possible.”
The Women’s Center is 4,000 square-feet and offers 32 beds, a full-time therapist and a safe place exclusively for women within its current facility on Baronne Street in Central City. The disciples, or men living at the Mission’s original facility, dedicated themselves to renovating the Women’s Center starting in December 2013.
Across the street from the original New Orleans Mission’s facility and the newly expanded Women’s Center is the GARDNER Cottage sponsored by GARDNER REALTORS. The revitalized New Orleans shotgun home now serves as a new headquarters for the New Orleans Mission’s day-to-day operations. The disciples are also responsible for this facility’s renovation including restoring wooden floors and creating and installing custom furniture pieces. Renovations began in December 2013 and operations have begun taking place in the building.
“GARDNER REALTORS does not just sell real estate… we’re making home dreams come true every day! When you choose a GARDNER Real Estate Professional, you also enable us to support local non-profit organizations such as the New Orleans Mission to help the homeless have a place to call home,” said Glenn Gardner, President of Operations, GARDNER REALTORS.
GARDNER REALTORS has been the driving force behind raising community awareness about the dire need of homeless women, ultimately leading to heightened community giving. To date, the New Orleans Mission has received over $200,000 from various community donors including the Gertrude Gardner Foundation, Troy Duhon, Glenn Gardner and the GARDNER Real Estate Family. Community support is still needed to fulfill the remaining fundraising gap to reach the goal of $300,000 necessary to properly run the Women’s Facility for a full year.
For more information on the New Orleans Mission’s Women’s Center or to donate to this cause, please visit www.neworleansmission.org/women.
About The New Orleans Mission
Established in 1989, the New Orleans Mission is a private 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization created as a service provider for a growing population of homeless men living in our city. Today, it is the largest faith-based private service provider among 60 shelters catering to the homeless population of New Orleans. The New Orleans Mission overnight shelter capacity has grown from 80 to 215, including 16 beds women. For more information, visit http://neworleansmission.org.
About Gardner Realtors
Since 1943, GARDNER REALTORS® continues our tradition of excellence as the leading full-service real estate company in the Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi Region. The GARDNER Real Estate Family includes over 800 real estate professionals in 24 neighborhood offices that serve over 100 communities. Our professional services include residential and commercial sales & leasing, relocation and corporate services, asset management/REO, and property management; plus, the convenience and added value of one-stop shopping for mortgage, title, insurance and home warranty services. We are proud to be home grown, locally owned and internationally known. Also, we love to give back to the communities we serve through GARDNERLOVE, our Real Estate Family’s statement of action to give back to the communities we serve through The Gertrude Gardner Foundation (a non- profit organization originally founded by Gertrude Gardner), the philanthropic arm of GARDNER REALTORS. For more information, visit www.GardnerRealtors.com.