LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A foam cannon sprayed kids as they ran around, a line grew and grew for snow cones, and music blared from speakers Thursday in the green space in front of Bates Memorial Baptist Church.
"This is like the biggest crowd that we've had...it's getting bigger, growing. A lot of community is learning more about it," Tony Manning said, president of the Sheppard Square Resident Council.
Thursday was the eighth annual Smoketown Family Wellness Center Neighborhood Celebration. The event was sponsored by the the pediatric clinic, which doesn't turn anyone away and charges families a flat rate of $25 if they don't have insurance.
"The work that we do feels like a gift to me. The families we serve are beautiful, and it's an honor and a privilege to work with them," Dr. Charlotte Gay Stites said, a pediatrician and the founder of the organization.
A few blocks away on the edge of Smoketown, sits the future site of the Community Care Campus. The city and Volunteers of America have promised that one day, this will be a hub for homeless outreach services, featuring several different types of housing.
Mayor Craig Greenberg announced this ambitious project in the first month of his term as mayor. It's now not set to be completed until after his term is over.
"I did not know it was going to be that long," Manning said.
The area around Breckenridge, Floyd and Brook Streets up against I-65 (where the Care Campus will go) is the area most often cleaned by Metro Government for homeless camping. Manning says many people in Smoketown are concerned about homelessness.
This week, the city announced construction on the first building on the campus had officially started. They're turning the former Vu Hotel and bathhouse into an emergency family shelter for 29 families. At the press conference, Greenberg also announced the project would cost $58 million, an increase from the $40 million Volunteers of America told us in May.
"The cost of this project will always fluctuate depending on design which we are still working on. As of now, everything is an estimate, a well informed one but still an estimate. We have included in our estimated funds raised the tax credits we know we will secure for the affordable housing project. We continue to look at multiple funding streams for every area of the campus," Tamara Reif said, Senior Director of Housing Services at Volunteers of America Mid-States.
Manning is encouraged by the ideas behind the Care Campus, but he's worried people may not fully utilize it.
"Will they take advantage of the housing that's there and that's available, or will they choose to stay where they are?" Manning said.
He does think Greenberg is working to increase this trust.
"I think the mayor is doing a good job in trying to build that trust with the community, but I think it's a whole lot of work to be done," Manning said.
In the meantime, they're very proud of the community building they've done in the Sheppard Square area, and the new homes being built. He thinks Smoketown is on the rise.
"It will become a community and a neighborhood, that one can say, 'I'm proud to go in that neighborhood,'" Manning said.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.