photo by: Bremen Keasey

State, local officials and O'Connell Children's Shelter leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning at the OCS's youth ranch at 1646 N. 1320 Rd. in Lawrence. The groundbreaking signaled renovations to one of its facilities and the start of a capital campaign.

About 100 people, including some state officials and legislators, gathered Thursday morning to kick off renovation efforts that will help the O’Connell Children’s Shelter better serve foster kids and families.

Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony at the O’Connell Children’s Shelter’s Youth Ranch, 1646 North 1320 Road, celebrated two big projects that the shelter is undertaking. One is the renovation of “Elsie’s Place,” the original homestead that was a part of the ranch donated by the O’Connell family 50 years ago to serve youth in the community. The other is a capital campaign that will eventually fund upgrades to other facilities that serve foster children.

Gina Meier-Hummel, the executive director of the O’Connell Children’s Shelter, said the renovation of Elsie’s Place will create an intake space to assist youth and families with emergency needs and add three specialized beds for youth in crisis. Meier-Hummel said the building is “meant to be an answer” for families in difficult situations, and renovations to the facility should be finished by next summer.

Maren Ludwig, the development director at the O’Connell Children’s Shelter, said the facility will be a headquarters for the shelter’s efforts to support at-risk families, as well as an intake center. Additionally, the new beds that will be added can help youth in the state’s foster care system who have been placed night-to-night, giving them a place where they can stabilize. Those kids could stay for around 30 days, and then could transition into one of the shelter’s other facilities that provides longer-term services.

Meier-Hummel thanked state legislators for their help in fulfilling the shelter’s $1 million funding request in the 2025 budget. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly initially vetoed the budget provision that included that funding in April, but the Legislature overrode that veto shortly afterward.

photo by: Bremen Keasey

Gina Meier-Hummel, the Executive Director for OCS, addressing a crowd of around 100 people Thursday morning ahead of a groundbreaking for the Lawrence-based foster care shelter.

Democratic state Rep. Barbara Ballard of Lawrence was one of the representatives who voted to override the veto. At the groundbreaking on Thursday, she said that while the Legislature has talked a lot about how to improve the situation for youth in foster care, Kansas has had fewer and fewer beds and facilities that help those children. She called the O’Connell Children’s Shelter an “unbelievable advocate for Kansas kids.”

“And if we’re not taking care of the children, you’re not doing your job,” Ballard said of the Legislature’s role.

Ballard also said that in her long career in Topeka, the O’Connell Children’s Shelter had never asked the state for “one dime” other than this year’s request, so she felt “they earned” the right to make that request.

In addition to the start of renovations on Elsie’s Place, the event was also about the shelter’s “Hope Grows Here” capital campaign. The campaign aims to raise money to update the shelter’s HOPE Center, which is a gathering place for youth and families the nonprofit serves. Meier-Hummel said the shelter was already halfway to its funding goal of $3 million, and she told the crowd at the groundbreaking that “the rest is up to you.”

Ludwig confirmed that the shelter had received around $1.5 million for the project and said the renovations would eventually expand the HOPE Center and make it a better space for groups to hold meetings, classes and trainings. It will also create a full kitchen area at the center so children in the shelter’s care can learn cooking skills that will help them be more self sufficient.

“We are raising youth to become adults, so they can take care of themselves one day,” Ludwig said.

Other planned renovations during this capital campaign include “rightsizing” some of its residential facilities. Ludwig said they were previously licensed for 10 to 16 kids to live in, but now it’s considered better to serve six to 11 kids per home.

Ludwig said the “Hope Grows Here” campaign would be an ongoing drive, but the O’Connell Children’s Shelter hopes to achieve its fundraising goal within three years. More information is on the shelter’s website, oconnellchildrensshelter.org.