Any couple faces challenges, but when those challenges are compounded by homelessness, the stress can be too much for a relationship to withstand.
Since opening in 1984, the Zaban Couples Center -- the only such center in Atlanta -- has vowed to help couples stay together as they end the cycle of homelessness and regain their independence.
This month, in partnership with students from the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Georgia Chapter of the International Interior Design Association, the center has completed its first face-lift in more than 20 years.
"The most exciting thing about this project is community involvement," board member Linda Davis said. "We are looking for a lot of volunteers from the summer to come back when residents are here."
For five months this summer -- the season when the shelter is unoccupied -- volunteers revamped the facility's 22 bedrooms based on designs drafted by five SCAD students. The students plotted paint colors, room layouts and furniture before creating a prototype room, which is now devoted to hosting overnight volunteers at the shelter. The final design was a mix of a few different ideas, Davis said. "They are designers and we are practical," she said, explaining why some suggestions were vetoed.
They ended up with rooms in green and white tones, each with a queen-size bed instead of two twin beds. For storage, each room has a wall unit and under-bed containers, but residents can also keep belongings in private lockers in a separate room.
As a result, the rooms, which vary in size depending on their location, look more spacious. Art on the walls, created by volunteers and staff, add a homey feel to the spaces. The room renovations, valued at $90,000 excluding labor, are the first phase of the redesign, with the common areas to be completed next summer.
For many involved, the experience proved invaluable.
"Interior design is not often thought of as a field that can make a large impact on people's lives. This project ... is one that can show the error of that notion," SCAD graduate Robin Turansky said in her concluding notes. "I felt it was extremely rewarding to take part in this type of design and learn how it incorporates economy, psychology and human behavior."
New couples are to arrive at the center this month and remain through April. In addition to substance and alcohol abuse counseling, the residents also will receive training in financial literacy, relationship counseling and anger management. The goal, executive director Patricia Smith said, is to get clients back into permanent housing.
Named for the late Erwin Zaban, the shelter was launched in winter 1984 when the congregation at The Temple approached the rabbi looking for ways to aid Vietnam vets who were dying in the cold because they had nowhere else to go, Davis said. The first shelter housed seven couples who would stay overnight in the Sunday school classrooms. In the morning, volunteers would come to clean and prep the rooms for children in religious studies. Zaban donated funds for the expansion of the shelter in 1988, creating the facility as it exists today.
The success stories have been many, such as the couple who came to the shelter in 2008 strung out on crack cocaine, Smith said. Within a week, the husband managed to get his job back, and within three weeks, his wife was hired by the same company. Before leaving the Zaban Center, they managed to save $8,000 to get themselves on the right track. Today, still employed as chimney sweeps, the couple returns to the shelter on a regular basis to volunteer, Smith said.
Last year, almost all the residents at the Zaban Center found employment and half were able to find permanent housing.
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