JUNEAU EMPIRE
After years of awkward calls and explanations, Juneau’s homeless shelter is changing its name.
The Glory Hole homeless shelter will soon be called The Glory Hall, Glory Hole Executive Director Mariya Lovishchuk said via email Thursday. The shelter’s board of directors has considered making the change for at least a couple years.
Founded in 1982, the shelter gets its name from an old mining term. Over the years, the term “glory hole” has taken on a new meaning in the world of sexual slang. The name resulted in national attention for the shelter in 2015 in particular, when online blog Jezebel poked fun at the name, and even David Letterman mentioned the shelter on his show.
Lovishchuk said the name change is primarily because of the sexual definition. In a past interview with the Empire, Lovishchuk said she regularly got calls and emails about the shelter’s name and always spent a few paragraphs in each grant application explaining the shelter’s name.
