De Paul Manor is open! Meet a resident.
As Cathy Rise entered the St. Vincent de Paul dorm and bed area that would be all her own, she looked around and cherished the details — from having dedicated outlets to four whole drawers just for herself. A small handwritten note and knitted blanket made by volunteers greeted her.
“I was crying over this bag,” Cathy said, referring to the gift bag full of large bottles of personal hygiene products. For the last year she’s been using small, travel-sized bottles of everything, from toothpaste to shampoo and having a big bottle of body wash is very meaningful to her. “This is very, very thoughtful.”
Cathy is one of the first residents to move into De Paul Manor, the new 100-bed interim housing community SVdP built in response to the homelessness it saw growing on Valley streets.
"Move in day for our first De Paul Manor residents went really well," said Julia Matthies, SVdP's Associate Chief Program Officer. "I was blessed to meet our new residents and learn a little about each of them. They are going to be wonderful ambassadors of our program values as we build the De Paul community."
Not four months ago, Cathy was in crisis after losing her job, her home, and then her health.
When the sobriety home where she worked closed down, she quickly found herself without an income. Despite looking for a job, within weeks Cathy was served an eviction notice. She lived out of her car for months, and one day, when she was staying in a local motel, she came out to the parking lot to find her car had been repossessed.
Then the worst of the blows struck: She broke her back. Due to her osteoporosis, it broke just from her turning over in her bed.
“I've never not been able to support myself. Never. It wouldn't even cross my mind that I wouldn't be able to support myself,” Cathy said.
She was taken to the hospital and discharged at 10:30 in the evening. Her bank account was empty, and she had to be out of her hotel room the next day by 11 a.m. When she got back, she spent the entire morning calling local organizations, desperate for help, trying to find anything before she had to take to the street.
“When I woke up, I tried to speed dial all of these phone numbers… I'm watching the clock. It's 9:30. Now it's 10:30. ‘My God, what am I going to do?’” Cathy said. “And guess who's the only one that reached back out after lots of long-winded voice mails? St. Vincent de Paul reached out and brought me here.”
A simple phone call is all it took to save Cathy’s life.
“I could hardly finish the conversation, I was crying,” Cathy continued. “The hardest part was waiting for their van to show up. That was...what was a long wait, because I almost I couldn't believe it. It felt like a rescue.”
SVdP brought her to its emergency-level Washington Street shelter, where she had her own bed, storage locker, access to hygiene items, showers, and three hot meals a day.
During her stay there, Cathy focused on recovering medically. The staff at Washington Street helped her with all the facets of getting better from a broken back; from driving her to appointments to simple little things, like helping her make her bed in the morning.
However, recovery combined with being in a large shelter for the first time has made it difficult for Cathy. Because she is 67, and because she’s been stable and working toward her health and rehousing future, her caseworkers thought she’d be a great candidate to be one of the first guests in De Paul Manor, SVdP’s newest shelter with 100 new beds for individuals 55+ or with disabilities. De Paul Manor offers three hot meals a day, hygiene facilities, caseworkers, and a generous dorm space for each guest. Most importantly, the facility is disability friendly and has special programming built with this older population in mind.
“It’s a privilege to be one of the first to move in,” Cathy said. “It brings calm, peace of mind.”
Another positive related to her transfer: She’s freeing up a bed at Washington Street shelter for someone in immediate crisis to come off the street and experience the stability from which she has benefitted.
Julia and all the other staff at SVdP are excited for Cathy’s journey and how it highlights SVdP’s goal to do so much more than shelter people, but instead offer them a space to heal within a community of support. That’s the difference an interim housing community provides. De Paul Manor isn’t just a place for someone like Cathy to spend the night and be shuffled out in the morning. She is able to stay and work toward bettering her situation, all while having the love and support of other residents, case managers, staff and volunteers by her side.
"The structured environment, coupled with a focus on building community, not only helps residents achieve stability but also fosters a sense of belonging and mutual support, and aids people in transitioning to permanent housing," Julia said. "For the community, this program represents a significant commitment to addressing homelessness with compassion and effectiveness. It aims to reduce the barriers that individuals experiencing homelessness face and integrates them into a supportive network that can lead to lasting change."
Despite being in one of the hardest seasons of her life she’s ever endured, Cathy now has hope. She’s not alone. Tonight, she has a bed, a desk, and drawers for her clothes. With the peace of stability and knowing where she’ll rest her head, she can begin to start fresh on building her new life and finding home.
