MACON, Ga. — The Brookdale Resource Center will see roughly a half-million dollars worth of renovations and upgrades thanks to Macon-Bibb County commissioners and grant money.
Tuesday night, Macon-Bibb County commissioners agreed to put $75,000 toward bedding equipment for the center using the Economic and Community Development Emergency Solutions Grant.
They also agreed to $482,165.01 of Emergency Solutions Grant funds for various upgrades to be made at the Brookdale Resource Center.
Over the past 10 months, the county has transitioned this center from an elementary school to a temporary shelter, and now a permanent resource center.
Macon-Bibb County EMA Director Spencer Hawkins compared it to flying a plane and building it all at the same time.
If you can remember back in January, newly-elected Mayor Lester Miller announced the opening of a Brookdale Warming Center days after two homeless men froze to death.
"We understand how it started. It wa,s 'Hey, we need to save some people's lives,' and we made that happen," Hawkins.
In days, the county turned classrooms into places for people to sleep.
"But it's evolved into a real place for people to land," Hawkins said.
So now, the county plans to spend the grant money to make this more of a permanent shelter.
"We're building a full-scale laundry room that staff and some of the residents can get laundry cleaned, bedsheets, things like that," Hawkins said.
They're also installing showers for men, women and children and adding kitchen equipment.
"So, we can start cooking here at Brookdale for the residents," Hawkins said.
They can also replace cots with actual beds.
"So metal bedframes, the sanitary plastic-wrapped mattresses and pillows," Hawkins said.
So far, Hawkins says over 900 people have gone through the center since January, with it averaging about 100 to 120 people living there at a time.
"Majority, more than half of the folks that live there with their families," Hawkins said.
At Brookdale, you can see toddlers running around outside and a school bus making a stop.
"We have about 50 children that are here. That alone is money well spent," Hawkins said.
The county expects more people to move in as we approach the winter months. Hawkins says this grant will help them prepare.
13WMAZ tried to speak to residents at the Brookdale Resource Center about the upgrades and about what this center means to them. However, security at the center would not allow us.