According to co-founder and executive director Deloyd Parker, the fire was electrical and severely damaged its hub on Live Oak Street.
The building in particular has been central to SHAPE's programming efforts, and since its inception in 1969, has made room for community groups to meet, from children needing a place after school to grieving mothers, and elders who otherwise would have nowhere to go.
Those groups include the Positive Black Male Association, the Association of Black Social Workers, the Elders Institute of Wisdom, and more.
"They call us now the United Nations of the Hood. Why? Because what happened is that almost anything you can think of on a positive note goes on at SHAPE Center," Parker told ABC13's Melanie Lawson.
From 2020: SHAPE Community Center in Third Ward celebrates 51 years of service
But perhaps SHAPE's story is best told through the more than 1,000 photographs that lived on its walls, each painting a picture of the people, places, and moments that helped frame it.
"Every picture on this wall.... you point at the picture, I can tell you the story," Parker said, sharing with ABC13 for the first time how he learned of the fire.
"It was painful because somebody called me and told me the building was on fire. I'm three blocks from the center. I got dressed and ran over. And I got very dizzy when I got there. And it wasn't from the smoke. It was just the idea that 56 years of history on those walls..." Parker said. "The pain, the thought of it not being SHAPE Center was painful. But that didn't last long because the community assured me that SHAPE Center will last forever."
SHAPE has moved its programming to its administrative building on Almeda while work is done to repair its center on Live Oak.
Parker describes the community center as "the product of the Civil Rights movement. A birth child of the freedom movement."
He credits the late Rev. Bill Lawson with pushing him to open what was always designed to be a safe space.
"Rev. Lawson called me, and when all the people in the community were insisting that we stay, it was a done deal," Parker recalled.
Parker shared with ABC13 how the center has received support from prominent members of the community over the years from businessman, philanthropist, and art patron John de Menil and U.S. Representative and humanitarian Mickey Leland to Gene Locke, the former city attorney, Harris County commissioner and one of the first African American students to attend the University of Houston.
Support continues to pour in with gifts so far amounting to $1.5 million through SHAPE's "Together Building Back Better" restoration campaign.
However, Parker said they still need another $2 million to finish the building and improve services.
According to SHAPE, the final phase of construction includes the following and will be needed to fully reopen the facility to the community.
Completion of interior build-out
Safety systems and technology upgrades
Program space restoration
Final inspections and reopening readiness
"How do you, Deloyd Parker, want to be remembered?" Melanie asked.
"As a giver," he began. "And to give is to let go. I want to be remembered as somebody who did all that I could do to make my community better today than it was yesterday and better tomorrow than it is today."
You can learn more about SHAPE and its restoration campaign on their website.