Photo by George Lauby West side. Front doors/main entrance are in the middle of the building.

Courtesy Photo/Image Snell's bicycle route.

Photo by George Lauby Volunteer builder Chuck Scripter leans on a cooling unit on the third floor, which will be used for ‘men's overflow' -- a recreation room or sleeping quarters.

Courtesy Photo/Image Second floor plan

Courtesy Photo/Image First floor plan Click to enlarge)

With a new homeless shelter nearing completion, director Ron Snell is heading out on another big trip through Nebraska to raise money for the last part of the construction.

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All that remains to be done at the new Lincoln Connection homeless shelter at 414 E. Sixth is to put up the sheetrock and finish the interior.

Some 20 volunteers, including some homeless, have framed the interior of the three-story building, after the walls and roof was built in the winter and spring.

The ever-ambitious Snell will ride out of town at 7 a.m. Saturday on a bicycle, aiming for a 3.100 mile ride through Nebraska, through all 93 counties, covering 100 miles a day. On the first day, he goes south to Wallace, west to Hayes Center and east to Curtis before stopping overnight.

Snell is 57 years old. He has already walked around the state and rafted from border-to-border down the Platte River.

It’s dawned on him that he is eight years older than the state of Alaska, he said. He has been working out since April to get ready for the ride.

“If I make it, I will be reassured there is a God,” he said.

Just in case of trouble, the family motor home will follow, driven by wife Tammy and/or close friends.

Snell, with help from Nebraska Life magazine, will stop at a restaurant in each Nebraska county, and donations will be requested there. His journey will be featured in Nebraska Life magazine and the magazine’s website.

Snell walked around the state with Tammy in 2005 to raise money for the project, and said that long walk (and blisters) raised nearly $150,000 for the shelter. His 2007 raft trip down the Platte River raised another $15,000. Some of that came from friends, who bet he wouldn’t make it.

Less than $200,000 is needed to finish the shelter in fine fashion, he said.

Civic groups and church leaders toured the new building Wednesday to see the progress, and were asked to do more fundraising, maybe by “adopting a room” to raise enough money to finish.

Although the end is in sight, the final costs are significant. For instance, the building has 80 doors, with a total cost of $30,000, he said.

Snell said about $1.3 million will be spent on the shelter, and the architect estimates the full value of the building is about $2 million. Volunteer work is the reason for the $700,000 savings, he said.

Many features

The new shelter will have two drunk tanks, a set of offices, reception area, six two-bedroom apartments with kitchenettes and a big kitchen, cooler and dining room that can serve meals to all occupants. There is also an ample laundry room, two classrooms, men and women’s dorm rooms, 11 small pod-like rooms for individuals in the dormitory, a recreation room and several restrooms.

Interior walls are insulated to help soundproof separate quarters within the building.

Grant Creager Architects of North Platte designed the building. Simon Contractors of North Platte is the general contractor.

The North Platte Kiwanis Club has donated playground equipment for children, which will be set up on the east side of the building.

Fundraising began five years ago for the building. Ground was broken June 27, 2008. By that time, nearly 450 donors had contributed, including children who dipped into piggy banks as well as several businesses, churches, groups and individuals that contributed $1,000 or more.

Another $400,000 of the cost will be paid by two same-size grants, one from Peter Kiewit Foundation and the other from the North Platte Community Redevelopment Authority.