The Central Kansas Dream Center, located at 2100 Broadway Ave. in Great Bend offers an array of services. The mission of this nonprofit organization is summed up by the words “reaching hurting people.”

Community members are invited to tour the Dream Center on Sunday, Sept. 10, and learn what is going on there, said Director Michael Cresci. 

“This is our 10th anniversary,” he said. “We’re super excited about that and I’m hoping that we get a good turnout.”

Ministry at the former Roosevelt Junior High School building goes further back than the 2013 inauguration of the Dream Center. Mark Ball and Lasting Life Ministries bought the building in 1998 after the school closed. In 2007, the Daniel R. Trickey Life Giving Center opened, providing transitional housing for women and offering assistance to people facing eviction or having their utilities shut off.

Today, the Central Kansas Dream Center offers a Men’s Program, the DC Kitchen, Kingdom Kloset and more.

One of the newer initiatives at the Dream Center is to make office space available for other community partners. 

Jennifer Vest, the Salvation Army’s outreach coordinator for Barton County, recently moved her office to the Dream Center and Cresci said others may also. (See adjacent story.)

Soon the Center will also welcome Christian counselor Monica Ravenstein, he said.

“And I’m hoping to maybe even bring DCF (the Kansas Department of Children and Families) back here.” DCF used to come to the center to take food stamp applications for homeless people but left during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Hopefully they can come back.”

There’s also a Pregnancy Clinic upstairs. The Center has a partnership with an organization called PreBorn! so it can provide free sonograms to pregnant women. “We’re trying to get them to not choose an abortion, but choose another option. When the woman sees the baby, they’re less likely to abort,” he said.

The DC Kitchen continues to serve 1,100 to 1,500 meals a month, Cresci continued.

Nick Taylor teaches jujitsu classes at the center on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Those are for all ages and “very reasonably priced,” Cresci said. Taylor also plans to offer a women’s self-defense class on Saturdays this fall in partnership with the Family Crisis Center.

The men’s transitional housing program at the center teaches from a curriculum called Teen Challenge. The participants, called disciples, also work and support themselves as they navigate this sober-living program. 

The Kingdom Kloset at the center offers seasonal clothing, linens and household items for $1 a bag. It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Anchor, another part of the outreach, offers The Overflow Pantry, for those in the community to get a monthly food box, and a mailbox program for people who don’t have a physical address of their own.

Other Dream Center staff include Office Manager Janet Stones and Men’s Program Manager David Lance.

The Salvation Army is known for many things: backpacks for kids at the start of school, red kettles at Christmas time and the Salvation Army Family Store at 2545 10th St. in Great Bend. One thing the 10th Street location was short on was office space for non-store services, which is why a partnership was formed with the Central Kansas Dream Center.

Jennifer Vest is the Salvation Army Outreach Coordinator of Barton County. She now has a satellite office at the Dream Center, 2100 Broadway Ave., where she is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Vest has a budget of available funds she can use to help people with past-due bills for things such as rent, utilities or medical bills. She also helps people find other resources available in the community.

The money available to Vest comes from donations, including those received during the holiday kettle campaign, and they are limited. The Salvation Army can only give each household a certain amount each year.

“That goes fairly quick,” Vest said. Her goal beyond offering immediate financial aid is to help people change their circumstances. She asks, “How can we get you out of this?” 

For example, she recently met with a homeless family. They depended on a woman’s disability check for income but the money didn’t last to the end of the month. The first of the month is always busy because that’s when most people have bills to pay and need financial assistance. 

“We sat there and looked for the last month at where that money went,” Vest said. Looking at a budget for food and housing, she tried to help the family get back on the right track.

She also shares information about other services available in town, and can help people fill out applications.

She was already familiar with the Central Kansas Dream Center when that organization’s board offered her office space.

“They have a soup kitchen, there are showers here (for homeless people to use) and they have some food boxes available, stuff like that,” she said. When looking for something a family needs, she has always been able to ask people at the Dream Center if they happened to know where the needed item was available. “So, it’s been an amazing partnership.”

Vest is working on a master’s degree, so she spends two days a week as an intern at the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF), Once she completes her internship in January, she plans to be at the Dream Center for Salvation Army outreach from Monday through Friday.