Zaban Paradies Center

In the heart of our community lies a struggle some would choose to overlook - the experience of those who are homeless. We are proud that for forty years, Zaban Paradies Center (ZPC) has offered couples who have no home several months of shelter, meals, clothing, related essential life support services and a sense of belonging.

Zaban Paradies Center was founded in 1984 by Atlanta’s oldest and most diverse synagogue, meaning, of course, The Temple! Rabbis Sugarman and Rothschild, and a number of especially dedicated Temple congregants recognized the increasing level of housing insecurity in our community, determined to establish a safe space for people to sleep in an emergency, and opened the Sunday School wing of the main building for overnight stays. That practice continued until the service was moved into the adjoining Selig Building in 1987. Later, Erwin Zaban generously financed the renovation of the 2nd floor of the facility, and the renamed the Zaban Couples Center became a true emergency shelter that offered longer stays, 3 meals each day, a clothing closet, and other necessary provisions for the care and protection of those who sought help there.

Initially, ZPC was 100% volunteer run and funded by creative and energetic Temple congregants. In 2009, The Temple created a board of governance, hired a professional executive director, and created a separate non-profit entity, and since then, the shelter has been financially independent. In 2015, the Center was renamed The Zaban Paradies Center for Homeless Couples after a stirring donation from Rick Paradies in memory of his father, Dan Paradies, himself a generous supporter of the Center.

High quality shelter has been the hallmark of ZPC. Yet even the effective sheltering and feeding of homeless individuals is not enough either to honor ZPC’s mission or to serve our clients as well as possible: we also promote the ability of our program participants to prepare for permanent housing success after they leave ZPC. Therefore, especially recently, our shelter has begun to offer comprehensive case management to help residents access employment, healthcare, permanent housing, mental health and counseling services, and financial and computer literacy to address the trauma often associated with homelessness. The life skills workshops and vocational training we offer empower our residents and facilitate their reintegration into society.

We are proud of our program’s success, which has only been possible because members of The Temple, with help from numerous educational, religious and service oriented organizations in the community, served and supported the shelter’s efforts for forty years! And volunteer support is still critically important to the success of the Center: we continue to need help with everything from donations of food to volunteers to help with meal preparation and service, grounds keeping support, clothing donation (especially of work-appropriate outfits), entertainment and almost anything else our wonderfully creative Temple community can offer. Please call Ryan Nation at 404-872-2915 if you can assist our effort or have ideas about how we may work as well as possible with The Temple, its members, or the wider community to help address and even resolve the issue of homelessness in Atlanta.