Opporunity Center within sight of its goal Opporunity Center within sight of its goal (March 17, 2004)

One capital campaign in town is closing in on the race to raise the money for its project, but is stretching out its own finish line in the hopes of building something a little better.

Now that the $23.8 million Opportunity Center is within $450,000 of its fund-raising goal, it wants to raise money to $1 million for "green" building enhancements, expand the endowment to subsidize the 89 apartments, and purchase better furniture for the drop-in centers.

The center is funded largely through a combination of government and foundation grants. But the last $7 million came from private donors, and the group is within $450,000 of that goal now.

"We were a little daunted because the economy is so bad and this isn't the easiest thing to raise money for," said the Rev. Jeff Vamos, pastor at First Presbyterian Church and a member of the group that put the idea together. "We were targeting people who are empathetic and generous."

The Opportunity Center will break ground May 5, symbolically culminating a five-year effort that started out from All Saints Episcopal and First Presbyterian churches in 1998 and grew into the Community Working Group.

The Opportunity Center will be built on Encina Way near El Camino Real and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. It will include two drop-in centers for men, women and children when it opens in December 2005. It will also have 89 low-cost apartments.

"It's been incredible, like providence at work,".

-- Don Kazak

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