The New Mexico Dream Center, a faith-based nonprofit, is seeking to buy the former Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., and turn it into a residential center for the homeless, drug addicts and victims of human trafficking, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Rob Thomas, a former pastor and the charity's founder and CEO, said the facility would accommodate up to 1,200 residents when fully operational. The New Mexico Dream Center, which provides help and human services to the most vulnerable and at-risk families, youth and individuals, according to its website, first plans to lease about 30,000 square feet of the building. Eventually the organization hopes to raise $15 million to buy the whole 529,000-square-foot building. Initial efforts will aim to help victims of human trafficking, a population predominantly comprised of women who are addicted to drugs and forced into prostitution, Mr. Thomas told the Albuquerque Journal.
Within four weeks, the Dream Center will begin to offer 15-day "social" detoxification services, which do not include administering medications. The organization will contract with area medical facilities for the treatment of women who require medical detox services, according to the report.
Eventually Mr. Thomas plans for the facility to provide drug rehabilitation, job training and other services for those in need.
Nick Kapnison, co-owner of the Gibson Medical Center, which purchased Lovelace Medical Center when the hospital closed in 2006, said he supports Mr. Thomas' plans to build the DreamCenter. Mr. Kapnison confirmed plans to lease or sell the building.
"It is not necessary for them to buy it if they don't want to," said Mr. Kapnison, who purchased the building with his business partner in 2007, according to the report. "We want to be involved in that kind of project in our city."