St. Mary’s Franciscan Shelter for Homeless Families
Sometimes when I speak about St. Mary’s, I tell people we are in the business of “Second Chances.”
In the 23 families who came through the Shelter one year, we had one young mother and her small child with us. The father of her child died and she had no one to take her in, so she came to us. While she was with us, she found work AND she enrolled in GED classes to finish her high school education and to increase her earning potential. Each week she attended GED classes on two separate nights, and this was after working a whole day first. We paid for the cost of her test, a $75 item few single moms can afford.
In those 23 families we also counted one Dad that came with two children to stay with us. Within a week he had led the Mom and a third child to the Shelter. She passed her drug test, but we didn’t hold much hope that she would continue on the straight and narrow with us. Dad was always looking for a better job than the one he came in with, and he landed one, full-time with benefits and more money. He saved a little and with a lot of help from friends they were able to get their own place. He finished his time with us with his family intact and the mother of his children clean and sober. We wish them continued good results and a bright future. They have made a good beginning.
