SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The place for parents and kids in trouble – or when parents just need a break – is taking a giant step forward. Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery Thursday announced that donors have provided land at 1020 N. Sixth St. for a new building.

Executive director Chriss Wilson said the new building will double the capacity of the nursery from ten to twenty and more than double the space from 3,600 square feet to more than 8,000. She said a timeline for groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting will depend on a capital campaign.

Celeste Niemann (pictured) has been a client of the nursery since she was pregnant with her first child. “They helped me survive one of the most difficult chapters of my life, because i am a survivor of domestic violence,” she said at Thursday’s announcement. “The nursery provided my children and me with a safe place to go, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I would not have been able to escape this decades-long abusive relationship if it wasn’t for the nursery, who held my hand and walked beside me and my children so we could start a new chapter of our lives”

Wilson said the current space at 1011 N. Seventh St. will be sold and converted to residential use.

An artist's rendering of the new Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery location.
An artist’s rendering of the new Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery location.