Nonprofit needs $2.5 million to complete Puyallup center for women and children

Construction is set to begin this month on a project to construct a center supporting women and children on a former bulb farm in Puyallup.

But the local nonprofit behind the project faces a new funding hurdle.

Step By Step, which supports at-risk mothers and their children from pregnancy through infancy, announced this month it’s seeking another $2.5 million, a result of “rapidly increasing construction costs over the past year as well as an increase in the scope of the project.”

“Our team will continue working diligently to bring this final stretch of the capital campaign to the finish line,” Step By Step founder and CEO Krista Linden said in a press release. “Because this is a project for the community, and in many ways by the community, we want to inform the public that has been so generous. We humbly ask for your help as we complete this last, important leg of the race.”

To date, the nonprofit has secured $7 million for the project, mostly through grants and private donors, such as prominent Puyallup business owners Jerry and Germaine Korum.

The project, called the Germaine Korum Center for Women and Children — named after the longtime women and children advocate — consists of a 400-person event hall, a 2,000-square-foot kitchen, an 80-seat restaurant, a childcare program and various on-site job programs and skill classes for women.

The center will be constructed on the former Van Lierop Bulb Farm, located near Shaw Road East and Pioneer Way East in Puyallup. Formerly owned by Neil Van Lierop, the farm was purchased by the city of Puyallup in 2015 and is across from a controversial warehouse project. The 24-acre farmland was split to make room for the city’s new Van Lierop Park on 18 acres and Step By Step’s project on six acres.

On Tuesday, the city and Step By Step will hold a joint groundbreaking for both projects.

Funding for the first phase of Van Lierop Park, costing $2.5 million, was secured in the 2018 Parks Capital Improvement Budget. The first phase includes site stabilization and construction of the Daffodil Plaza, Daffodil Vista corridor, the first segment of a multi-use trail and temporary parking. Anticipated completion date for Phase 1 of the park is late fall, depending on weather conditions.

No significant traffic impacts are expected, Parks and Recreation director Sarah Harris said.

For Step By Step, work will begin on the restaurant, kitchen, event hall, classrooms, parking, septic and a new water main. Anticipated completion date is Mother’s Day weekend 2019, depending on weather.

Naming opportunities are still available for future donors to the project, Linden said.

For more information, visit legacyinmotionproject.org.

About the event

What: Van Lierop Park and Germaine Korum Center for Women and Children Groundbreaking Ceremony

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 28)

Where: 13407 80th St. E, Puyallup

This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 10:17 AM.