The former McLaren Greater Lansing Greenlawn campus is getting new life as the hub for a mid-Michigan charity.
Child and Family Charities serves more than 20,000 people annually, providing basic needs, therapy, family support services and more.
But its offerings are currently spread across five locations.
CEO Julie Thomasma says her staff currently works shoulder to shoulder and getting to the offices poses a challenge for people who rely on public transportation.
But she says that’s changing as the charity begins its takeover of a former hospital located right next to a bus stop.
“It’s not just about opening a building. It’s about opening doors to comfort, to connect and to healing,” Thomasma said. “This new campus is more than bricks and walls. It’s a symbol of what we can accomplish together.”
Among those the charity has helped is a mid-Michigan woman raising her granddaughter.
Carol Swayze moved back to Michigan eight years ago to help her son raise his daughter. But when he died, a decade after his brother, she says she became a 62-year-old single parent of an infant.
She says the Family Growth and Resource Center has provided food, clothing, toys and books, as well as helped them navigate preschool, elementary school and life amid grief.
“Family Growth Center didn’t just help us with the things we needed. They gave me hope. They gave me friendship,” Swayze said. “And those things are the most important; the hope that life will change and get better.”
The charity celebrated the opening of the first part of its new campus during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
More of the campus will open this summer with laundry facilities, showers and other amenities.