Garland Church converts West Spokane offices into healthcare worker housing

By Kali Nelson | FāVS News Reporter

In May the Garland Church opened Providence House in Spokane. It is nestled into West Spokane and is the newest reimagining of old church offices.

Cathy Hansen, business manager for Garland Church, said the house will be available for short-term rental to traveling healthcare workers. She said it has been both offices and a pastoral house before its newest remodel. 

“We’re really looking forward to showing the love of Christ to whoever comes to the house — and it’s not meant to be a high pressure place to our church, but a safe and relaxing place while away from home,” Hansen said. 

The remodel has taken months to complete and included upgrading doors inside to allow for privacy, repainting everything and decorating the entire house. The house is currently available for three people and is listed as a three bedroom two and half bathroom. 

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Hansen said the church was going to use the money made from the rentals to help support the office expenses so tithing donations could go toward ministry. She said this new income would help paying staff or office expenses and allow for the church to do more community outreach. She said the church also offers use of its building to the Salish School, the Spokane Seventh-day Adventists and other community groups. 

The church also has the Garland house that is available for refugees Hansen said. That house is a two bedroom and one bath where families can stay for a month or two. 

“We wanted to serve the community,” she said. 

The remodel was done mostly by volunteers, Hansen said. One such volunteer was Cathie Mullins, who has been a member of Garland Church for about 27 years. It was her first winter retired, and she was looking for ways to give back to her community. 

“I like to paint, and when I heard they were redoing the Garland House, I said I could do some painting,” Mullins said. 

Mullins would assist with finding mistint paint, which is often sold at a discount, and then painting every room, ceiling and trim in the house with another volunteer.

She said it took from the second week of January to about the end of March or mid-April. Mullins said it was rewarding to see how the house transformed from a bunch of offices to a decorated home. 

“It was quite a bit more work than I expected, but it was so exciting to see it transform,” Mullins said. 

The house comes fully furnished. Mullins said it had been a lot of work for the volunteers, but she had found a community in them. She said they had aimed to make it feel “pleasantly decorated.”

“It felt very chopped up because of how it had been turned into offices and see it turn back into a home was very rewarding,” Mullins said.