New ICRH location to open Oct. 27; executive director search underway
The Isabella County Restoration House sits in its new location at 120 S. Pine St. on Oct. 21, 2019. The restoration house will open for its next season on Oct. 27.
The Isabella County Restoration House will be opening for the season on Oct. 27, but the organization will look very different this year.
ICRH provides temporary housing for homeless individuals for around six months out of the year and helps guide its guests to self-sustainability. While these two core parts of its mission will not change, the restoration house’s location and leader will. Not only will the restoration house be located downtown, but longtime time Executive Director Ryan Griffus recently stepped down to take a job at Central Michigan University.
The new location will move from 1114 W. High St. to 120 S. Pine St., said Norma Bailey, who is on the ICRH Board of Directors. She said the new location is almost ready for use and the move was made because of the larger space.
Bailey said they chose downtown simply because the space became available and was also a fit for ICRH’s needs. Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Joseph, who is also on the ICRH Board of Directors, said having it downtown is beneficial to the people of Mount Pleasant because it will allow people to know the resource is there in case they need it. He also said it brings awareness to the issue of homelessness to the citizens of Mount Pleasant.
There will be many benefits for the guests with this new location, said Bailey. One of these benefits includes having designated space for things like computers and a children’s corner. Another benefit is being right next to EightCap, a non-profit corporation that runs programs to help those who are in poverty or are dealing with homelessness.
However, Bailey said there is a drawback to the new location. The old location on High Street was right next to the Isabella County Soup Kitchen, Clothing Inc. and other similar resources. She said guests will still be taken to the soup kitchen for lunch by bus in the morning but will have to walk back to the new location downtown. The positives for the guests outweigh this drawback, she said.
However, Joseph said ICRH can be flexible with accommodation with transportation and that ICRH spends thousands of dollars in transportation for its guests. Some of the guests have cars or some money for transportation, so they don’t choose to use transportation provided.
But the new location will not be finished under Griffus, who announced in late September that he will be leaving ICRH in a Facebook post. Griffus said he accepted a job at CMU as coordinator of graduate recruiting and his last day was on Oct. 14.
“I love ICRH dearly and will continue to support its mission,” Griffus said in the Facebook post. “But, a career opportunity has presented itself that I simply could not pass up. I am forever grateful to ICRH for the opportunity and deeply appreciative of everyone who I've made connections with during my time with the organization!”
Bailey said that Ryan accomplished many things during his two-and-a-half-years tenure as executive director, including being a tremendous public face for ICRH, being great at fundraising, executing the idea of guiding guests to self-sufficiency and helping to create the day shelter. Bailey said she wishes him well on his new career path and he did amazing work for ICRH.
ICRH is currently conducting a search for a new executive director. Bailey said the director search and figuring out the new location are the main focuses this season, beyond ICRH’s main goals.
“We very much credit Ryan for moving us forward to a certain point,” Bailey said. “Now we are going to continue to move forward.”
If you would like to learn about ICRH, or even volunteer, you can visit their website.
