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As a brand-new councilmember back in early 2019, I was given a tour of what would become Vineyard 2.0. It was a dark and dusty building. It had once been a Montessori school, then Vineyard Church. It was, in 2019, being reimagined as a center that would provide wrap-around services for those in need of food, temporary or permanent housing, medical attention, and more.
It was the first time I had seen how different levels of government, religious organizations, non-profit organizations, and private funding could come together to work on behalf of the most vulnerable. It would not be the last.
From Goodness Village (“an affordable tiny home program that provides the Tri-Valley’s formerly unhoused neighbors a safe and supportive community”) to Avance, with 44 units of affordable housing for adults with developmental disabilities, to Chestnut Square Senior and Family Housing, the City of Livermore has worked to build housing and support systems for the most vulnerable. These communities all took many years to get funding from that wide variety of sources, which speaks to the difficulty of making these kinds of projects happen. (And that is when they are not challenged with spurious lawsuits.)
But let’s return to Vineyard 2.0, which opened recently. That dank building I first saw had long since been demolished. Over the past couple of years, the new buildings appeared, with apartments, a kitchen, a warming center, and much more.
Nothing makes me prouder of Livermore than driving down Livermore Avenue and seeing Vineyard Resource Center, as Vineyard 2.0 is now called. Want more? Here’s a link for a complete introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a8FpAH3yS0.
Want to help? Open Heart Kitchen is now housed at the VRC and in need of volunteers to help with free meals, groceries, and overnight shelter shifts. Here’s the link to volunteer: OpenHeartKitchen.org/Volunteer
