A Child's Haven - 1. Chapter 1

Living in a big city you see all kinds of people, dope addicts, prostitutes but worst of all are the young kids, walking the streets begging for something to eat or a place to sleep. I was very fortunate, I grew up in a loving home, I lived in a nice house and money was never a worry for me. I guess I was one of the rich kids who never had to worry where I was going to sleep or what I was going to eat. These kids on the street had no one; you could see the loneliness and despair in their eyes.

Some nights I’d go home with tears in my eyes, particularly when an 8 or 9 year old kid would approach with a dirty face, wearing rags and ask for something to eat. I was convinced that something had to be done and I was going to do the best I could to help them.

I bought an old three story warehouse in a rundown section of the city. The rooms were 80 by 80 feet and 60 feet high. The second and third floor had windows that started about 5 feet off the floor and extended to 5 feet from the ceiling.

At Sunday dinner, my dad asked me what I was doing as I’ve been coming home late at night. “It looks like you’re working in a mine, clothes full of dust and dirt.”

Laughing, “I’ve started a project to help street kids. I bought an old warehouse and I’m going to convert it into a refuge for them. I’ve been spending my time cleaning.”

“I’d like to see this place.”

“Well, come with me in the morning and I’ll show you what I bought and my ideas.”

The next morning, Dad followed me to the warehouse.Parking behind the warehouse, we entered through the back door “Dad, let me give you a tour and I’ll explain my ideas as we go through the building.”

“Lead on; you don’t mind my comments as we go through the building do you?”

“No, I’ll be glad to have your comments.”

I led Dad to the basement which had a concrete floor and concrete block walls. “I want to install shower stalls like they have in the national parks. I thought I’d put the showers along the east wall; figure I’d place a shower every 4 feet which would give me a maximum of 20 showers. I’d then divide the showers into two sections one for boys and one for girls. I’ll run a partition down through the middle for 40 feet; providing a private entrance for each side. Inside each section, I’ll have lockers, a place for towels and a hamper for dirty clothes. In front of the private lockers, I’ll place benches like the locker rooms at school. On the outside wall, I’ll put clothing lockers where I’ll stock clean clothes. I thought I’d visit thrift shops, second hand stores and places like Salvation Army to get the clothes to fill the lockers. On this end, I’ll set up a commercial laundry as well as a few home type washers and dryers.”

“What about hot water and ventilation?”

“Each of the shower stations will have ‘on demand’ hot water. There’s a system that fits into the shower pipes and heats the water to a preset temperature as the shower is used. For ventilation, I‘m going to install exhaust fans in the area over the laundry with ventilators over the showers; I have the space since this area has a height of 60 feet. So what do you think?”

“It looks like you’ve given this a lot of thought.”

“I was thinking of designing the shower stalls with a small partition that would allow the occupant to place their towel and clothing in a section that wouldn’t be exposed to the water from the shower area.”

Dad just shook his head as if in agreement. Leading up to the first floor, “This floor is going to be the dining hall and common area. I thought of using picnic tables with benches along the walls for eating, I figure if I bought 30- 6ft tables, I could seat at least 180 kids at one time. I’d place vending machines around which will be stocked with water, milk, juices and snacks. Along the back wall, I’d put a few under counter refrigerators, couple of microwaves, a couple of dish washers and a large sink, primarily for washing hands.”

“What about the floor, it looks like hard wood.”

“I was planning on having the floor sanded and then coated with some type of coating to handle the wear. I think that the floor will look good.”

“This room has a high ceiling, you good almost put in a second floor.”

“I think that’ll be phase 2. Let me show you the second floor where the sleeping models will be.”

Walking up to the second level, “So what are your plans for this floor?”

“I’m going to borrow an idea from the Japanese’s cubicle hotels. Look at this picture; I’ll put a small drawer under each cubicle for shoes. I want to build them two high which would be approximately 9 feet high. Each cubicle will be 4 ½ wide by 4 ½ feet high and 7 ft long. They’ll contain a dorm mattress, a light, a small shelf and hooks along one side for hanging clothes. With a total height for the units of 12-14 feet, it’ll leave approximately 1 ½ feet for duct work to provide air conditioning. Between each cubicle there’ll be a 12 inch space that’ll be used to provide air to each cubicle. On one side of the cubicle will be the air inlet and the exhaust will be on the other side. Essentially the 12 inch space will provide sufficient space for 2 ducts. I’ll use ladders between the units so they can access their assigned cubicle.

I plan on having the windows sealed except for space at the very top so I can install reversible exhaust fans. I want to divide this room into 3 floors with each floor containing 112 cubicles, at one end there’ll be a relaxation area similar to our family room. On the other end, there’ll be rest rooms, storage for clean sheets and pillow cases and a clothes chute that’ll go directly to the basement. So what do you think?”

“I see you have given this a lot of thought. Do you mind some help?”

“No Dad, additional help will really speed things up.”

“We’ll talk about it tonight. Don’t work too hard.”