By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – People needing shelter could live indoors last winter, thanks in part to Blessed Sacrament Parish’s pastor, Father Thomas G. Landry, and parishioners.
In all, 238 individuals spent one or more nights in the church’s Phelan Center, and 38 more received services there. Nobody was turned away.
The shelter closed as planned after three months, but follow-up with its guests continues, as do attempts to address homelessness year-round.
Shelter operations manager Nahani Meuse gave The Catholic Free Press this report after the closing of the shelter, called Sowing Seeds of Hope at Bethlehem Hall. Open Sky Community Services, a Worcester-based behavioral health and human services organization, ran the round-the-clock shelter at the Phelan Center from Dec. 19 to March 31.
The 60 beds were available on a first-come, first-served basis, and guests could stay as long as they chose. Ms. Meuse said some stayed the whole time.
Over the three months, 78 guests got into permanent housing, 73 others went into “substance use treatment,” and 26 found jobs, she said.
Shelter case managers are following up with guests for housing and support services, she said. Ms. Meuse created cards for guests with a list of available resources.
Bethlehem Hall was the only emergency winter shelter in Worcester, Ms. Meuse said.
Some year-round shelters in the city are for certain populations – one for veterans, three for women fleeing abuse and several for families – she said.
The South Middlesex Opportunity Council runs a year-round shelter at two locations in Worcester, for anyone age 18 and older, she said. The sites are the Greater Worcester Housing Connection Shelter at 25 Queen St., and the Martin Luther King Business Empowerment Center at 237 Chandler St.
Open Sky received funding to run the Phelan Center shelter from the state Department of Housing and Community Development through SMOC, Ms. Meuse said.
City officials met with Father Landry, parish representatives and Open Sky to establish a three-month lease agreement for use of the Phelan Center. Open Sky paid utility costs. Blessed Sacrament provided the space, free of charge.
Worcester officials do not plan to open another shelter to replace the Phelan Center one, City Manager Eric D. Batista said last week. Emergency heating and cooling centers are available for temporary shelter, and if another shelter is needed “we’d be willing to consider” opening one, he said.
“Our goal is to continue what we were doing before,” working with partner agencies such as Open Sky to address issues that lead to homelessness and help people find housing, he said.
Ms. Meuse said she wants a year-round shelter that offers the support and services that were offered at the Phelan Center, and that multiple community partners are working with her to make it a reality.
Ryan Johnston, vice president of integrated care for Open Sky, said he thought lives were saved because the Phelan Center shelter was available to people who would otherwise have been on the streets, since other local shelters could not have accommodated that many more people.
“We really do appreciate the support from Father Landry and the parish,” he said. “Without them we couldn’t have had the positive outcomes we did, or even been here, if Father Landry didn’t say ‘yes.’”
Providing space for a shelter was the right decision, Father Landry said, adding that guests felt safe, and welcomed. Most parishioners affirmed the decision, several citing Scripture to support it, he said. One of those expressing concerns about hosting the shelter ended up bringing muffins to the people there.
“I was there every day that I was on campus,” mostly just to say “hi,” Father Landry said. He made himself available for conversation, and, before the closing, gave a farewell blessing and reflection, he said.
Ms. Meuse praised the outreach, saying Father Landry prayed with guests and staff, offered counseling, helped serve meals, and distributed gifts at the Christmas party.
“He was always available,” which was especially helpful when people whom guests and staff knew died, she said.
She said Robert O’Connor, parish maintenance director, even came during the night to shovel snow or fix the elevator, and parishioners brought meals and clothing, and played board games and did arts and crafts with guests.
“Overall, it was a huge success,” Ms. Meuse said of shelter. She said more than 18,000 meals were served, including to those who stayed temporarily when the shelter was full, while staff sought another place for them.
“We would keep them here as long as it took” to find a bed elsewhere, usually in one of the other 86 shelters in the state, she said. Guests at the Phelan Center included those who had been discharged from a hospital at night, and others who were stranded when a train was cancelled, she said.
Unlike at other shelters in Worcester, guests could stay around the clock, and receive free meals and services on site, Ms. Meuse said.
Services included help obtaining housing and employment (and the identification needed for those purposes) and food stamps, medical care, health insurance, substance abuse treatment, cell phones, veterans’ benefits and immigration services, she said.
Asked how people can help, Ms. Meuse suggested volunteering at a non-profit organization that works with homeless people and advocating for affordable housing.
A one-bedroom apartment in Worcester costs $1,200 -$1,600 or more per month, which retired and disabled individuals and those paid minimum wage cannot afford, she said.
“We need to change that,” she said, and asked that people inform legislators that the number of homeless people is increasing.
There were more than 600 unsheltered adults in Worcester last winter, according to the “Point in Time Count” taken Jan. 25, Ms. Meuse said.
Shelters, city officials and other community partners in the human services field conduct a count in Worcester four times a year, she said. One count, conducted annually on one January night across the nation, is submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as required by law. This enables the government to direct resources to where they are most needed.
 

Shelter guests appreciated the support they were offered

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – The shelter at Blessed Sacrament Parish’s Phelan Center was closing, having completed its three months of housing people.
That night, March 31, Kevin Vacca, who said he lived there for two months, sat inside with staff members.
A few other shelter guests were packing up to head out into the chilly, rainy night.
Mr. Vacca said that during his first week there he overdosed on opiates and opted for the outpatient treatment offered – because he was alone, without money and it was cold outside.

“I’ve been clean ever since,” he said, proudly showing his sobriety coins.
“That’s all God’s work,” commented William Diaz, who worked at the shelter.
Mr. Vacca said it helped to have staff members who had been in treatment themselves.
He paused to encourage a fellow guest to call a detoxification center – to get a bed before they were all taken. The other man said he would, but not yet.
“You want to get high one last time?” Mr. Vacca asked pointedly. From the response he got, it seemed he’d guessed correctly.
Resuming his own story, Mr. Vacca said, “The shelter helped me get placed for temporary housing. I was living in my truck” since 2019. He said he had previously lived in a different shelter, received help to get housing, had a bad break-up, resorted to drugs and ended up homeless again. He chose to live in his truck, thinking that returning to a shelter would be going backwards.
Sitting in the Phelan Center, he said, “It was the greatest thing I could’ve done … to get out of my truck and stop using.” He said he helped at the shelter as much as he could.
Maydee Morales, shelter director, said she was happy that the shelter had been there and that staff members were able to provide services, but she was also sad because some people were back out on the street.
Heather Burke, assistant director of operations and recovery specialist, spoke of building relationships and establishing mutual trust with guests.
“We’ll continue to love them until they can love themselves,” she said.
“I was able to be there at their worst times,” including when some considered suicide, said staff member Yadira Gonzalez. “I was able to … redirect their minds on a positive track and let them know I loved them … and wanted the best for them. … They saw me as family.”
Shelter guest Marybeth Smith raved about the help offered there.
“This was amazing, because I have been in substandard apartments” the past several years, she said. “I’ve been (outside) occasionally, but usually I couch surf,” staying with a friend.
At the Phelan Center she could bathe in a shower trailer.
“That was humongous,” she said. “I felt like I could connect with my dignity again. I had a definite bed. I had access to food.”
At the shelter, she said, she found a personal care assistant – another guest, who was seeking housing and a client. Ms. Smith, who has disabilities, said that woman would live with her and be paid to assist her.
“I believe God matched us up,” she said.
She spoke of some problems at the shelter, but took them in stride. She had feared other guests would steal her belongings, and that happened a couple times, she said. And there were some conflicts among people, but that is normal, she said.
“We were treated like human beings,” and people were not condemned for addictions; they were offered support, she said.
She praised shelter operations manager Nahani Meuse for advocating for everyone.
Ms. Smith said shelter chaplain Brian Ashmankas was awesome; she could talk with him about spiritual things.
And it bolstered her faith when Father Thomas G. Landry, Blessed Sacrament’s pastor, prayed with and for the people there.
She said being homeless robs people of their dignity and the means to meet their needs.
“It makes you feel like … you don’t count,” she said.But, “Here, we counted.”