City Union Mission's new Christian Life Center, a 26,000 square foot facility, was completed June, 2008 at the cost of $6.7 million. "The new facility is all paid for thanks to our generous donors. Because this building has the capacity for 100 men, double what we were able to accomodate in the past we'll be able to help restore more men's lives. And the "green" aspect of the building reflects that committment  to restoration," said Dan Doty, Executive Director.  

Rain falls in the urban environment onto mostly impervious surfaces, such as, building roofs, parking lots, streets and sidewalks and is historically collected, channelized and diverted into piped stormwater systems that are very costly and not environmentally friendly. The stormwater then disappears underground into a series of pipes and it emerges at great velocities offsite, often to the great detriment of the local creeks, streams and rivers downstream.

The City Union Mission project decided to change the ways of how they treated stormwater runoff. They decided to make a concerted effort to treat each drop of water as a precious resource and showcase a sustainable stormwater approach that quickly became the primary showcase for the exterior spaces.

The specific system for the City Union Mission collects stormwater from the roof drains and deposits that volume into a series of inter-connected Rain Gardens that fill up entirely during typical storm events and get absorbed into the ground through the plantings.

The Rain Gardens capture a majority of the polluted runoff and cleanse it through the various native planting zones. Once this process has taken place the stormwater will percolate back into the sub surface soils or it will overflow into the other Rain Gardens and will be introduced into conventional stormwater infrastructure as clean water.

The plantings are what make this system thrive and the Native or Xeric plants are well-suited for the climate of Kansas City and require less watering and maintenance. They thrive in the extreme wet/dry conditions that occur within a Rain Garden.

Would you like to take a virtual tour of the inside of the facility?

To find out about our Christian Life long-term recovery program, please click here.

And to donate now, please click here.