Lifeline Family Center Breaks Ground On Housing in Cape Coral

Lifeline Family Center recently broke ground in Cape Coral for one-ofa- kind housing for single women with children graduating from the Lifeline program. The new facility will be built adjacent to Lifeline Family Center at 907 S.E. 5th Avenue, and is the first affordable rental housing offered by the organization.

More than 75 people attended the groundbreaking, including State Rep. Dane Eagle, Cape Coral Mayor Joe Coviello, Cape Coral Council members Jennifer Nelson and Marilyn Stout, along with other officials.

Founded in 1996, the non-profit Lifeline Family Center provides young women in crisis pregnancies a safe home in Cape Coral and a learning environment. During the two-year residential program, the mothers receive education, job training, professional counseling, parenting classes and spiritual guidance.

“This is the next step in helping our moms and their children toward independence,” said Lifeline Family Center founder and CEO Kathy Miller. “Accessible and affordable housing in a safe neighborhood is difficult to come by in Lee County. As a single parent raising young children, it is almost impossible.”

The new housing will provide four two-bedroom apartments for the center’s graduates so that they can continue to grow professionally and utilize the on-campus day care facility while they work. “Rents” will be just what it costs for insurance and facility maintenance — approximately $500 a month, including water.

To date, 178 women and 117 babies have found a home at Lifeline Family Center, which can accommodate up to 12 women, ages 16 to 25, and 24 babies at a time. The non-profit also operates a 24/7 Pregnancy Helpline, and provides free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds by appointment, and adoption counseling, among other services.

The center receives no government funding and is wholly funded by donations from individuals, local businesses and the United Way. Thus far, donors have given $400,000 toward construction of the new housing; an additional $236,000 is needed to complete the project debt free. For more information, please visit www.lifelinefamilycenter.org.