Things are coming down to the wire for Corner House.
The “halfway house” has a little more than five weeks left to reach the $1.3 million it needs for a new drug and alcohol treatment center. And it’s almost close enough to start jingling coffee cans.
“We think as of this week, we won’t be needing anything greater than $60,000,” said Basil Kessler, vice-president of the Corner House board. “I have no fingernails left.”
The money must be raised by July 1, or the organization loses $470,000 in challenge grants, all but forcing it back to square one.
Corner House has been part of Emporia since 1974 and is one of the few residential treatment programs in Kansas. The organization gives individuals who are recovering from addiction a place to stay, group and individual therapy, legal services and help with employment.
It presently works out of an 80-year-old home at 418 Market St. that has been stretched to the limit to find space for everything. If the fundraising campaign is successful, Corner House plans to build a new 11,000 square-foot treatment center — nearly three times as big as the current house — with room for more beds.
The new center would be on the same site as the old one.
Since its creation, more than 3,500 people have been helped by Corner House, including nearly 160 people last year. Most are below the poverty line and about 60 percent are 30 years old or younger.
The challenge grants are from the Jones Trust of Emporia, the Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., and the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka. Kessler said that Corner House is still waiting to hear back on an application to the Emil Babinger Charitable Trust.