Friendship Center / Emergency Shelter
618 West State Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 273-6684
Open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Tompkins County Red Cross Friendship Center opened in October of 1995. It is a "way station" for people who are seeking effective and safe ways to overcome life's obstacles. Single men and women, couples, families, teenagers, middle aged and seniors look to the Friendship Center staff for guidance during their time of need. The Center has always been a place where people could come and access Red Cross services from caring staff and gain support from others experiencing similar difficulties. Whether they are seeking shelter, food, assistance in finding a new place to live, help with obtaining social service benefits or mediation with a current landlord - Red Cross staff is there to help.
The Friendship Center provides:
- Outreach services.
- Assistance with housing solutions.
- Eviction prevention.
- Assistance obtaining social benefits.
- Landlord/Tenant mediation.
- Free lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm.
- Food giveaways the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month from 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm.
Friendship Center & Shelter Renovations
The Friendship Center has been under renovation since Spring 2008. It will be operational by March 2009. The new Friendship Center & Shelter will add 18 beds for homeless clients now housed primarily by special arrangement in local motels. These beds will be in addition to the 13-bed shelter on West Court Street, bringing the total to 31 emergency beds available to homeless clients in Tompkins County. The facility will also house six permanent HUD-funded beds for targeted homeless men and women.
The renovated building will be an integrated facility, housing the daytime drop-in Friendship Center downstairs, overnight shelter and permanent beds upstairs, and new office space in the front of the building for re-housing case management personnel now scattered around the city. Putting these services under one roof will increase the efficiency and quality of the Homeless Services Program and on-site shelter resident supervision.
This is the culmination of a development plan that started in 2002 when Community Housing of Ithaca, Inc. (CHI), bought the 618 building with the plan to make it the permanent home of the Tompkins County Red Cross Homeless Shelter. Renovation construction is being done by Ciappa & Marinelli Builders, Ltd. with assistance and funding from City of Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, Mayor Carolyn K. Peterson, Human Services Coalition & Tompkins County Homeless and Housing Task Force, United Way of Tompkins County, City of Ithaca/Tompkins County HUD Funded Homeless Assistance, KeyBank, City of Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency HOME Investment Partnerships Program & CDBG, and The Park Foundation and Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund (Tompkins County Trust Company).
