BARABOO, Wis. -- A new homeless shelter effort is under way in Baraboo, thanks to the donation of a house.

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St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a growing parish with its own school, has a large, seven-bedroom empty home sitting on its property.

The Rev. Larry Bakke said the last of 10 parish nuns living in the former home retired last summer. Bakke said it's too expensive to retrofit the house into office space. So the church decided to give the home away to Homeless Haven in hopes of sheltering others, WISC-TV reported.

"Bishop Morlino of the diocese has now given us his formal approval to do just that and it's so good to do," said Bakke, a priest at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

Homeless Haven, a Baraboo-based shelter group, has been struggling to find permanent space for eight years. Their last permanent shelter in Loganville closed three years ago after another church sold the space. A temporary shelter at a former Reedsburg nursing home ended with the demolition of that building almost two years ago, WISC-TV reported.

Krueger said even when the shelter didn't exist, the calls never stopped.

"We're still getting calls, a couple a week," said Homeless Haven's director Betty Krueger. "One father and son were living in a truck."

Krueger said her group is thrilled by the donation and determined to find a place to put it. The church needs the land where the house currently sits so the house has to be moved. That means finding money, a vacant lot and public support.

"A homeless shelter has been located here once before and I think there's probably a need for it," said Baraboo Mayor Patrick Liston. "I think it is an issue given the price of land around here and the availability of land in the city of Baraboo to find a lot."

"I hope people come forward and realize this is a need in their community and that the children that are homeless are going to be citizens of our community in the future," said Krueger.

Liston said that the city has never funded a homeless shelter and doesn’t believe the county does either. He didn't rule that out in the future.

At this point, Homeless Haven has raised between $25,000 and $50,000 of the $100,000 needed to open the shelter, WISC-TV reported.

Organizers said that anyone interested in donating to Homeless Haven can call 608-356-9930 or send a check to:

Homeless Haven
P.O. Box 339
Baraboo, WI 53913.