KANSAS CITY - A domestic violence shelter that was at risk of closing permanently because of money problems will keep its doors open after all.
The Newhouse shelter in Kansas City is set to reopen thanks to an anonymous donation.
Newhouse president Leslie Caplan says the donors do not want publicity. She says the donors had been looking to help "struggling women and children" and came across an article about Newhouse in The Kansas City Star.
"We had been praying for the right donor to support our cause," Caplan told The Star. "The reality is, for those who don't believe in the power of prayer, we are an example."
Caplan would not comment on the amount of money donated but described it as "significant."
"It doesn't solve all our problems," she said. "We will need past, present and future donors."
The shelter's 26 staff members will be rehired Monday. All 86 beds will be available Wednesday.
The struggling shelter was running out of money to pay staff members two weeks ago. The shelter moved the 72 women and children housed there to other sites, fearing that staff might start leaving to look for other work.
The shelter had suffered a drop in donations and was affected by shrinking grant funding, the timing of grant payments and increased competition for government grants.
Newhouse officials were in merger talks with the Don Bosco Centers, another nonprofit agency, and feared the shelter would close its doors if those discussions were successful.
Now, the merger talks are over, and Newhouse's board of directors voted Wednesday to keep operating independently.
The shelter served 600 women and children last year.
The Newhouse agency was started by three Methodist and Presbyterian churches in 1971 as a food pantry, clothes closet and GED class site. The domestic violence shelter opened in 1978.