A big thank you to Vancouver-based C.E. John Company for its generous donation of $300,000 to the new day center planned on Grand Boulevard (“Developer pledges $300,000 to new day center,” April 17, The Columbian). C.E. John has donated to many nonprofits in our area for two generations.
I had one concern when reading the article. It stated: “To operate the day center it … could cost the city more than $570,000 per year.” This seems to be very high for a center that will be open during daytime hours only with no overnight beds, and will not be offering job counseling, mental health or other types of services at the opening. I would ask that the city council look very closely at ways to bring these costs down. I would like to see a breakdown of the estimated costs to operate the center.
