South Salt Lake Mayor Cherie Wood and Laurie Hopkins, director of Shelter the Homeless, a nonprofit that owns several homeless shelter facilities in Utah, laughed as they both took a ride down the slides at a new playground installed behind an old Motel 6 that has been converted into a shelter facility for homeless families.
Wood, Hopkins and other leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday for the new playground at the Family Interim Non-Congregate Housing Facility — FINCH for short.
Many families have a backyard for their kids to play in — but not those living at the FINCH, which offers private remodeled motel rooms for families experiencing homelessness. That’s what was missing, Hopkins said.
“In order for kids to really feel like they are in a home environment, they do need a place to get their wiggles out. They need a place to be able to have fun and play … and the parents need a respite too,” Hopkins said. “So I do think that it is actually a critical piece of this entire property to really have a place to recreate.”…