As a team, together with financial partners and volunteers in the community, Joy Junction exists to show love, grace, and mercy towards homeless women, children, and families. Our purpose is to work diligently to break the cycle of homelessness, one precious life at a time!
While Building for the Future of Those in Need
When the homeless come to Joy Junction, they are looking for hope — hope that they will find a way out of their troubles and a path to a better future.
In order to offer a better future for those who come seeking it, Joy Junction has to expand. We want to offer hope by being better able to meet the needs of the homeless in our community. And we need your help to do it. Together, we can:
Construct a new dormitory — a place for real beds, not mats on the floor.
Build a new community chapel for classes, Bible studies, church services and community outreach.
Establish a new Women’s Center where we can provide additional safety and security for abused women and their children.
Create a Vocational Training Center will give us the chance to teach skills to guests that will help them find, and keep, gainful employment.
In addition to these new structures, a renovation of our Multi-Purpose Building will enable us to expand the kitchen to use it as a full-time dining hall. This will help us serve the increasing number of guests we will be able to serve through the renovation and construction.
The expansion and renovation of Joy Junction will help us handle the challenges of today — and tomorrow.
& Tomorrow
Every day, Joy Junction provides shelter for as many as 300 homeless men, women, children and families. About 118 of our homeless guests sleep on mats on the floor of the Multi-Purpose Building (the “Multi”). Unfortunately, lack of space means we have to turn people away every night when there is no room left.
Our lack of space also means we must use the Multi as classroom, church, kitchen, and dining hall in addition to sleeping quarters. Our existing chapel has not been usable for 25 years due to severe flood damage in 1986 and must be rebuilt. Engineers report that the school building will cost considerably more to fix than to rebuild. Joy Junction also needs a separate facility for abused women and their children, to aid in their recovery and enhance their safety. And our kitchen is too small for the preparation of over 16,000 meals per month (and counting)!
These are all challenges that we are looking to overcome with our renovation and expansion project. Together, we can!
to Help the Homeless. Together, We Can!
We understand the magnitude and challenge of our project. We know that our vision to better help the homeless can only become a reality through a community-wide effort that is blessed by God.
Joy Junction requests your prayer support and your financial assistance to help us meet this challenge that will help so many.
Joy Junction pledges to be responsible with the resources that come to us for this campaign and to use construction and renovation resources only for their designated purpose. In addition, we will be conservative in the choice of building materials and design options.
We are proud to have been able to reduce administration overhead to 10% over the years (2011 audit), and we commit to working hard every year to find ways to make further reductions and use even more of non-designated general resources for programs and program support. Our books and records are audited annually by the respected local accounting firm of Hinkle & Landers. Joy Junction is an IRS determined 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and your gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.
All things are possible to those who believe. Together, we can make this happen! Together, we can help break the cycle of homelessness, one precious life at a time!
For Close to 30 Years
In 1986, Dr. Jeremy Reynalds founded Joy Junction, now New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Joy Junction’s outreach to the homeless has really grown over the years; we currently serve as many as 300 people every night at our main homeless shelter — and hundreds more through our mobile food outreach.
In 2013 alone, Joy Junction provided more than 200,000 meals and about 120,000 nights of safe and warm shelter to homeless women, children, and families.
Joy Junction exists to show love, grace, and mercy towards homeless women, children, and families. Our doors are wide open and we are always ready to help the homeless from the Albuquerque metro area, Santa Fe, and points beyond.
But we have outgrown our aging facilities, and homelessness is a continuously growing challenge.
We need your donations to continue our mission to help the homeless of New Mexico!
Has Changed Over the Years
For many, the word “homeless” produces an image of a person holding a cardboard sign asking for a handout, or someone with apparent substance abuse issues at the side of the road. These are common stereotypes.
The real face of homelessness includes veterans and families who have been forced to the streets by circumstances beyond their control, and victims of a sour economy. Domestic abuse sends mothers and their children packing and running in search of safety.
Women, children, and families are the fastest growing segments of the homeless today. Albuquerque Public Schools estimates that more than 6,000 of the children attending their schools are homeless! And while Joy Junction still sees many individuals with substance abuse issues, we find that most want to recover and return to mainstream society with new skills to help them obtain and keep jobs.
All Things Are Possible – Together, We Can Make It Happen!
Yes, this project is large, but it’s also very necessary. It is a project that can only be completed through a united, community effort. Costs shown below are preliminary estimates available at time of printing. The table reflects the anticipated order of construction.
If we are faced with funding limitations, we will expand Joy Junction in multiple phases. This is really not ideal, though. Completing our homeless shelter expansion project in one phase is preferable so that we do not have to delay our ability to provide help for abused women and children. Additionally, building in phases would also cause us to delay our ability to teach job skills through the Vocational Training Center. This center is desperately needed to help Albuquerque’s homeless learn skills that are so important for finding and keeping a job in this economy — and prevent them from falling back into homelessness.
As shown in the table above, the complete construction project will total approximately $8,000,000.00. We need your help! Your generous donation to Joy Junction will help us break the cycle of homelessness, one precious life at a time.
To make a difference, you can donate online by clicking the link below, or you can mail donations to:
P.O. Box 26568
Albuquerque, NM 87125
or by calling 505.217.9586
Make a Difference
In-Kind Gifts & Monthly Gifts May Be the Answer!
Monthly gifts to our charitable organization are an option for those with limited resources who still want to help the homeless! Pledging a monthly amount can maximize the impact of your gift! Month by month, each gift to our homeless shelter —of any amount—will add up to make a difference in the lives of homeless women, children, and families. Please see the chart to the right for examples:
“Thank you, Joy Junction, for the great work you provide to the Albuquerque Community. APD often reaches out to your staff for assistance with those who are homeless, and your staff is always available. I look forward to our organizations continuing to work together to assist those in need.” – Ray Schultz, Former Albuquerque Chief of Police
