Even before the new building was completed, its principals were planning its eventual destruction.

The addition to the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown, established in 1984 to provide safe emergency housing and support services for homeless families, was celebrated recently by community leaders, donors and volunteers, who placed items relevant to life today in a time capsule which will be part of the structure currently being erected.

The time capsule, a red plastic tool box, will be discovered only when the building is demolished by a future generation.

The 3,500-square-foot two-story addition, on the site of a torn-down blighted building next door to Sixth Street Shelter, will allow the organization to serve 30 more families a year.

Each family stays at the shelter approximately 60 days, during which time support services help the families move forward from crisis to stability.

Right now, the shelter has 20 apartments. Five more will be available when the new building is completed in September.

A fundraising campaign to buy and tear down the blighted building and erect the new addition netted more than $800,000, according to Jessica Dreistadt, director of Sixth Street Shelter.

A major chunk of those funds, $125,000, came from members of First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, Tilghman Street and Cedar Crest Boulevard, Allentown, which also is a key source of volunteers working on the project.

The Rev. Dr. Tony Sundermeier, lead pastor at First Presbyterian of Allentown, told the assembled group at the construction site, "Collaboration is in the DNA of First Presbyterian. This is one more road in this great journey we are on."

Sundermeier put a bottle of superglue into the time capsule to symbolize the power of collaboration.

"We are better together. We come together in a common and unified goal," he explained.

The general contractor, Jerdon Construction Services of Fogelsville, was represented at the celebration by owner Ron Jerdon and site superintendent Mike Everett.

Jerdon, who has strapped on a tool belt and volunteered his time and labor at the project on a Saturday, said he felt "blessed" to be a part of the shelter expansion, which will be an environmentally-friendly building.

The addition will include recycled building materials and a roof-top solar system for hot water, he noted.

Praising the community volunteers, many from First Presbyterian of Allentown, Habitat for Humanity and Sons of a Carpenter from Weisenberg Lutheran Church, Jerdon said, "Sixty thousand dollars was saved because of volunteers."

He added, "Two hundred volunteers put in 2,000 hours in two weeks."

According to Kraig Hess, president of Sons of a Carpenter, 11 or 12 volunteers from the group worked on the Sixth Street Shelter addition.

"We did the framing work," he said.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski placed a pin with the seal of the city into the time capsule.

"When they open this box, it's because the shelter is no longer needed," he said.

Pawlowski, too, praised the many volunteers involved in the expansion project.

"Volunteers are what's making this happen, and if we eradicate homelessness, it will be because of volunteers," he declared.

The expanded shelter illustrates what can happen when the government, private sector, non-profits and volunteers come together, several speakers at the celebration pointed out.

Although the assembled group expressed excitement about the project, all said they look forward to the day the shelter will no longer be necessary.

Then a future generation will open the time capsule and find relics of another era: cell phone, pen, People magazine, local newspapers, Harry Potter book, road atlas of the United States, video and compact disc, along with the glue, pin and other objects that may seem as antiquated in the future as the idea of a family without a home.