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GREENSBORO - By the end of the year, Greensboro's homeless residents will have a place to spend their daytime hours, advocates will announce today.

An East Washington Street warehouse and office building near the former home of the Southern Plate and Window Glass Co. has been donated to the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro to be used as a new service center for the area's homeless.

Organizers hope to use $55,000 in city and nonprofit funds to continue to run a temporary day center until summer, while the permanent building is renovated. City staff will ask the City Council to designate $30,000 for that purpose tonight.

Meanwhile, organizers from the faith community, city leaders and homeless advocates will hold a news conference and open house at the 407 E. Washington St. building at 2 p.m. today.

Community members, especially people who might use the center, are welcome to attend and tour the new center.

A day shelter is a place where homeless residents can get out of harsh weather, wash clothes, learn new skills and catch up with social services.

Last year, local leaders got together to start planning a day center for Greensboro. The City Council set aside $200,000 in housing funds to be used as start-up money.

In January, organizers opened a temporary day center, called the Interactive Resource Center, at Bessemer United Methodist Church.

Since then, the site has served about 50 people every weekday, manager Antonio Baker said.

The resource center was meant to be open during winter weather. Now, proponents hope to keep it open while the permanent center is developed.

Liz Seymour, an advocate for the homeless, said organizers will use the Interactive Resource Center to plan programs for the permanent day shelter instead of hiring a consultant.

"It's actually a hands-on, planning laboratory test of what works and what doesn't," she said. "What do people want that we are not able to provide there (Bessemer United Methodist Church) but that we could with a larger facility?"

To that end, organizers hope to use about $30,000 worth of the money set aside by the City Council to keep the Interactive Resource Center open until at least the summer. Council members will decide whether to approve that request at tonight's City Council meeting.

Organizers also hope to add up to another $25,000 from Operation Greensboro Cares to help fund the Interactive Resource Center.

By September, organizers hope to open the permanent center on East Washington Street.

The warehouse and office space can be easily transformed to fit the center's needs, said Bob Newton, co-chairman of the committee planning the project.

The tougher part will be figuring out how to keep the center running permanently - at an estimated $200,000 to $400,000 a year.

"We don't want to start something we can't finish," Newton said. "There needs to be permanent funding in place."

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com