LOS ANGELES — A closed roller-skating rink in California will be converted to a homeless shelter and named for Alex Trebek, the late “Jeopardy!” host who was its benefactor.

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Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission officially inaugurated a new homeless bridge housing center in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, KCBS reported.

Trebek, who hosted “Jeopardy!” for 37 years, died on Nov. 8, 2020, after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was 80.

The Trebek family donated $500,000 toward the shelter, KABC reported. The shelter is being converted from Skateland, a former 23,000-square-foot roller skating rink, KABC reported. It will be called the Trebek Center, and there will be 107 beds in the shelter.

”I know how proud Alex was of their mission,” Trebek’s widow, Jean Trebek, said when the sign was unveiled on Thursday. “He was so deeply grateful to be a part of the solution, to always lend a helping hand by offering both hope and practical assistance to those in need.”

The Trebek Center will undergo a $6 million renovation before it opens, KCBS reported.

“I know the center will be a purposeful and meaningful bridge and a safe haven for so many,” Rowan Vansleve of Hope of the Valley, told KABC.

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Ken Craft, the mission’s CEO, said he received a telephone call more than a year ago from Alex Trebek.

”And I answered it and a voice said ‘Ken this is Alex Trebek,” Craft told KABC. “‘I hear you’re are building a shelter in North Hollywood I’d like to come see it. I said, ‘When would you like to see it?’ He said, ‘Tomorrow 9:30.’ I said, ‘OK.’

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“In the back of my mind I’m thinking is this the Alex Trebek or is this Alex Trebek from Wichita, Kansas? I wasn’t quite sure honestly.”

It was the game-show host. The $500,000 donation was the first for the mission.

And the shelter has benefited ever since.

Cox Media Group