“Lou Armstead was one of our founding board members,” said Lorie DiStaola, executive director of NHS. “He played a huge role with actually opening our doors, getting the (Hamilton) Community Foundation, the city of Hamilton and banks involved. He really was very loyal, dedicated and passionate about our organization for many years.”
Armstead, a real-estate agent who died in May, 2016, counted the organization’s founding as one of his proudest achievements.
The Armstead family dedicated money that made possible the organization’s distinctive headquarters building next to the McDonald’s on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The non-profit organization serves all of Butler County.
The organization’s family-friendly party, featuring food, non-alcoholic beverages and kids’ games, will happen from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 9 in the grassy lot at 100 South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, next to the NHS building. The lot is across the street from the parking garage that serves the city and county administration buildings.
At that event, “we’re going to be honoring Lou, obviously,” DiStaola said. “But the theme behind it is we’re inviting our partners, our clients,” she said. There will be a ceremony from 1:30 to 2 p.m., but the main idea is to have fun, especially for children, she said.
“Lou was very jovial, and he loved barbecue, and they wanted to make it a fun, family-oriented event,” she said. “We really wanted to offer the family-friendly aspect of the event.”
Tuesday’s dedication for Lou Armstead of what the organization has been informally calling “the Dream Center home” will include a plaque with his name.
That building, which was restored about five years ago to the surrounding neighborhood’s historic standards, includes three apartments, one of them handicap-acceptable, that marked a milestone for Neighborhood Housing Services because they are dedicated as “transitional housing” that lifts people from homelessness or helps them avoid it.
The Dream Center church, just two buildings away, acquired the property with the idea of gutting and rehabbing it for housing that would help the church’s mission of providing needed stability to families. Neighborhood Housing, which helps people with housing issues, stepped in to help with that vision. People can rent the three apartments for up to 18 months for reduced rents, and if they take financial courses, can end that period with funds they need to make down-payments for apartments elsewhere.
The church cleans the apartments when families move out. One woman who lived in an apartment became a nurse and a homeowner. She will speak Tuesday.
“It’s the gap between homelessness or day-to-day rent in a temporary hotel to being able to actually live in an apartment,” said Nancy Hulshult. She and others had the idea for the apartments when she was principal of Hamilton City Schools’ former Hope alternative program, and worked with a teacher who also runs children’s programming at the Dream Center. They talked about how difficult it was for families to move into apartments who have either been living in motels or were homeless, she said.
The Campbell Avenue building was for sale, and was purchased through the Dream Center with help from other churches, and Dream Center Pastor Wendell Coning. The churches and the community have furnished and equipped the apartments.
“This is a way to — at least for three families at a time — they can keep their family together, they can stay there, get some money to get into an apartment, added Hulshult, who now is principal of the Hamilton Freshman School.
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