In a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday, Real Life Church announced to the city and surrounding community, plans to open Savia: A Community Partnership. Real Life Church has leased the incomplete Tresierras grocery store property at 23870 Newhall Avenue and will construct a 23,000-square-foot facility inside.

It will house business offices and meeting space for three local non-profits: A Light of Hope, Single Mothers Outreach, and the Domestic Violence Center – all tackling issues that destroy families and erode communities.

Real Life Church will also move their Spanish-speaking service, Vida Real, to the new multi-use 285-seat auditorium on the weekend. In addition, the facility will house a coffee and juice bar with a wi-fi work lounge, classrooms, an outdoor playground area, and conference rooms — all available for community use throughout the week.

Lead Pastor Rusty George explained, “Our vision for Savia is to truly be a place of partnership and collaboration with community leaders, non-profits, local businesses and the City of Santa Clarita. We do not feel the need to create a bunch of new internal programs to serve our city. Instead, we will continually ask ourselves, ‘What individuals and organizations are already doing great works in the community and how can we assist them to increase their reach and effectiveness?’  Rusty quoted Dr. John Perkins of the Christian Community Development Association stating, “The success of a local church should be directly tied to the degree that it holistically transforms its immediate neighborhood. Any other success factor is secondary.”

Tim Traurig, Director of A Light of Hope stated, “In providing support to families struggling with substance abuse and related issues A Light of Hope is excited about the future partnerships the move to Savia will provide by being located with the Domestic Violence Center and Single Mothers Outreach. Having us working this close together will strengthen us all and will provide a variety of options for families and individuals in need of hope and support.”

Linda Davies, Director of the Domestic Violence center of Santa Clarita said, “We help victims overcome their situations while providing community outreach and we are very excited about our new space and the new partnership opportunities which will support awareness, education and prevention of various forms of domestic violence.”

DaAnne Smith from Single Mothers Outreach paraphrased a quote from Maya Angelou in regards to work to be done at Savia – “Together we can compose a better world. It’s an honorable and noble profession.”

Savia is often translated as ‘energy’, ‘vitality’ or ‘lifeblood’. “We hope to help infuse these same attributes into the community and we’re excited to see how this facility will be used to serve Santa Clarita.” Pastor George added.

Completion date is expected to be the first quarter of 2013.