The effort to build a new women and children’s shelter in the Tri-Cities got a big boost from a memorial fund honoring a Bechtel senior vice president who died earlier this year.

The Valerie McCain Memorial Fund raised more than $30,000 for the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission’s capital campaign to build a new shelter for women and children in Kennewick.

The 3 Rivers Community Foundation, which established the memorial fund, delivered the check Friday.

Valerie McCain

McCain died in March at age 53. She led the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project for four years and spent more than 30 years total working for Bechtel.

Friends and colleagues around the country contributed to the fund, which McCain’s family earmarked for the Union Gospel Mission because of her passion for helping families in need, a statement said.

"We are grateful for the foundation’s support in establishing this fund in honor of my mom,” Natalie McCain said in a statement. “The donation to the Union Gospel Mission will ensure that her legacy of compassion, grit and generosity lives on. Our family has been overwhelmed with the impact she had on so many in the Tri-Cities community and around the world at other Bechtel offices and projects.”

Andrew Porter, executive director of the mission, said his organization is humbled by the donation made “in honor of such an incredible woman and leader.” He added that a new shelter is “gravely needed.”

The existing facility in Pasco is aging, too small and in an area with higher crime rates that’s not safe for kids, the statement said. The mission has raised $1.5 million for its $9.5 million capital campaign.

The new shelter will have apartments, classrooms, indoor and outdoor play areas for kids and office space for counseling.

Learn more and donate: https://tcugm.org/women-and-childrens-shelter/