A Salt Lake City day shelter for the homeless will stay open for another year.

The financially strapped Bishop Weigand Center was scheduled to close Wednesday, but will remain operating through the 2010 fiscal year thanks to donations from both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County.

"We're kind of on cloud nine," said Kathryn Brussard, a spokeswoman for Catholic Community Services, the nonprofit that runs the Weigand Center.

The center had been running in a "huge deficit," until receiving a $100,000 donation each from the city and county.

"The mayor was extremely dedicated to making sure services were not interrupted for this population," said Marla Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. "This is a short-term solution while we actively look for a long-term solution."

Shuttering the much-used shelter would have impacted The Gateway and the city's Main Library, Brussard said.

The shelter offers the homeless a chance to shower and escape the elements during the day. Without that, she said, many would have been left seeking other places of refuge.

"The homeless population does not belong to Catholic Community Services," Brussard said. "It's a community issue."

Propped up for at least one more year, Weigand officials are working at expanding services at the shelter, including individual counseling and help finding employment.

"Our mission is to guide people to self-sufficiency," Brussard said.

The city's Redevelopment Agency will also allow Catholic Community Services to use the recently purchased Howa Construction building, 663 W. 100 South, to house its growing refugee resettlement program.

The terms of that agreement have not been finalized, Kennedy said.

E-mail: afalk@desnews.com