Beloved Golden Girls star’s legacy lives on.
The Bea Arthur Residence will be opening its doors in early 2017 giving hope and shelter to LGBTI youth.
As reported last year by Gay Star News, the beloved Golden Girls actor who died in 2009, left $300,000 (€268,000) in her will to support the Ali Forney Center.
The shelter was originally expected to open this summer, but some building regulations have caused minor setbacks. It is believed that the construction is now in the later stages and that it would be finished in February next year.
Before her death Arthur promised that she would do anything she can to give homeless LGBTI youth a place to call home.
‘These kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay or transgender — this organization really is saving lives,’ she said in an interview with NEXT Magazine.
In 2012, the New York City Council also gave $3 million (€2,680,000), while Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gave another $300,000 to the Ali Forney Center (AFC) project.
The center, located at 222 East 13th Street in Manhattan’s East Village, will feature 18 rooms and with the AFC’s transitional living program it will offer LGBTI youth a safe place to call home while they are guided on their way to independence.
