The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation has awarded a $1 million challenge grant to the Wichita Children's Home in support of an expansion of and upgrades to the organization's facility, the Wichita Eagle reports.

To meet the challenge, WCH must raise $7.3 million by January 8, 2014, including pledges paid out over a five-year period. After the $1 million grant is applied, the organization will still need to raise $700,000 to reach its $9 million capital campaign goal. Constructed in 1963, the organization's original facility was designed as a long-term shelter for children, though in recent years it has been used more as a crisis care center, with children typically not staying for more than sixty days. In addition to supporting the capital campaign, the grant will help fund the organization's Multi-Purpose Center and BRIDGES program, which provides temporary housing, educational services, and vocational training for abandoned and homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 22.

WCH currently serves about fifteen hundred abused or neglected children a year. The proposed new facilities will include a day care center, exercise facilities, classroom space, and a teaching kitchen. "We realized we need to keep up with the needs of the children," Wichita Children's Home CEO Sarah Robinson told the Eagle. "We need to redesign to better meet those needs."