Crisis Nursery Construction To Begin

Wed., Nov. 17, 1999

Construction on the new Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery will begin Saturday with the demolition of two structures near the old building.

A ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the current nursery, 1004 E. Eighth Avenue.

The nursery will remain open during construction.

The new 12,000-square-foot facility is expected to cost $1.6 million. To date, $1.3 million has been raised. Construction should be completed by the fall of 2000.

Vanessa Behan offers emergency housing for parents going through a crisis in their lives, such as domestic violence, illness or stress. The goal is to prevent the kinds of volatile family situations that led to the beating death of 2-year-old Vanessa Behan in Spokane in 1982.

The nursery opened in 1987 as a community response to the horror of that death and other cases.

In 1992, it reached its capacity of 2,600 emergency stays and has operated above capacity in the years since.

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