Saint Francis House (Boston)

Saint Francis House is a nonprofit, nonsectarian, ecumenical daytime shelter, primarily for the homeless, located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and founded in the early 1980s. It is the largest daytime shelter in New England and serves as an early model of such a center.

Mission

Its mission, has been stated early on as:

"We believe in the dignity of every human being and offer respect to all who enter the house. Our mission is to care for those who cannot take care of themselves, and to assist those who are capable of becoming self-reliant and fully functioning members of society." [St. Francis House Mission Statement, as recapitulated in 1998. [http://web.archive.org/web/19980611001102/www.stfrancishouse.org/mission.html] ]

It serves and helps poor and homeless people in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi who was dedicated to helping the neglected.

History

Saint Francis House was formally founded by the Justice and Peace Committee from the Saint Anthony Shrine [ [http://www.saintanthonyshrine.com/home.htm Saint Anthony Shrine website] - Boston] on Arch Street in downtown Boston in 1984, but its origins date back to 1981, when the Franciscans at Saint Anthony's had opened a soup kitchen for the homeless.

As the need for services increased, Boston community and religious leaders called out for the establishment of a center where existing and additional services could be offered to the poor, the homeless, and the otherwise disenfranchised. It was the visionary, Father Louis Canino, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar and then Rector of the Saint Anthony Shrine, who was the driving force in its founding and the necessary purchase of a building on Boylston Street. [Father Louis Canino later became the founder and director of the St. Francis Springs Prayer Center at the Franciscan Center [http://www.franciscancenter.com/] in Greensboro, North Carolina.] Ira Greiff, a veteran social worker and former Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, was also instrumental in setting up Saint Francis House with Father Canino, using the model of a settlement house for the day center shelter. [Cf. Thomas Keane, Jr., "Greiff's activism isn't just a good act", 2003 article.] He also shared a vision for "rehabilitative services and a permanent multiservice center for the homeless and that homeless shelters and programs should and could collaborate, and participate in joint public policy and budget advocacy". [The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, [http://www.ich.gov/newsletter/archive/09-21-06_e-newsletter.htm "A Home for Every American Award profiles with a look at the contributions of Ira Greiff, recipient of the Life Achievement Award"] , Newsletter, September 21, 2006.]

Its early historical responses to help the homeless focused primarily on emergency services such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

However, the problem of homelessness, in general, turned out to be more complex and could not be solved by emergency measures only, so its scope and services broadened.

Over the years of its operation, St. Francis House has dealt with barriers that impede people in overcoming poverty and homelessness, by offering an upward framework of opportunity. This includes teaching the skills needed to obtain jobs, housing, further education or, at the very least, how to have lives independent of shelters and institutions.

In 2001, Millennium Partners and Ritz-Carlton who built the Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Towers just around the corner from Saint Francis House, funded the construction of a large atrium in Saint Francis House so that the homeless would not have to stand in lines in the street waiting to get in. [Bombardieri, Marcella, [http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2003_1st/Jan03_RitzBoston.html "Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Towers Lifts Downtrodden Area of Boston"] , The Boston Globe, January 26, 2003Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.] [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070928055333/http://www.millenniumptrs.com/pressrelease.cfm?presscenter_index=53 The Atrium] , Marcella Bombardieri, The Boston Globe, May 09, 2001.] Saint Francis House had originally approached the developers to build the atrium out of an unused outdoor parking lot, so that homeless guests would not have to wait on the street in long lines.

Operation

St. Francis House is open seven days a week, 365 days a year and it provides its guests with the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter, showers, telephones, mail, medical care, and emergency assistance. There are also rehabilitative programs (employment, housing, mental health, substance abuse counseling and lifeskills training) to help those who are able to move themselves out of poverty and homelessness, to achieve lives of independence, self-respect, and hope.

There is also some transitional and permanent housing in the building for the formerly homeless, living in recovery, and employed.

It also has a very active Art Room where homeless artists create and are given a chance to express themselves, and many of the works are displayed and sold. Saori style Japanese weaving is especially therapeutic and useful for many of the artists. [Yoder, Glenn, [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/28/weaving_stability_in_life_of_loose_ends/ "Weaving stability in life of loose ends"] , The Boston Globe, May 28, 2006] [ [http://www.stfrancishouse.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Rehab_ExpTher_Saori Saori Weaving Initiative at Saint Francis House] ]

In 2004, the Carolyn Connors Women’s Center was opened, recognising the special vulnerability of the smaller population of women who are homeless.

Being a daytime shelter model, it is a critical part of caring for the poor and homeless, since most nighttime shelters for sleeping typically put their guests out during the day, early in the morning after wake-up call. Rather than being left to the streets, which can be harsh, the day center provides a place to go and be cared for and also be part of a community, typically much more wide-ranging in services and scope than the nighttime emergency shelter scheme.

The in-house medical clinic is run by Boston Health Care for the Homeless. [ [http://www.bhchp.org/ Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program ] at www.bhchp.org]

Awards and recognition

St. Francis House is recognized as a National Model Program by:
*The United States Department of Health and Human Services
*The [http://www.usmayors.org/ United States Conference of Mayors] Committee on Hunger and Homelessness
*The Social Security Administration
*The United States House of Representatives Speaker’s Task Force on Homelessness

tatistics

In 2007, Saint Francis House: [these statistics are provided by St. Francis House, in their reports, and on their webpage.]
* Served a total of 305,923 meals
** 116,990 breakfasts
** 171,340 lunches
** 17,593 emergency sandwiches
* Filled 8,410 clothing requests
* Provided 8,911 medical appointments
* Provided 1,458 showers
* Counseled 27,575 guests at general and psychiatric counseling sessions

Comparative figures published show the number of meals served steadily increasing: [ [http://www.stfrancishouse.org/site/DocServer/Summer_2008_Newsletter.pdf?docID=342 "The Spirit of Saint Francis"] - newsletter, Summer 2008. Cf. figure on p.7]
* 2005: 270,702
* 2006: 292,565
* 2007: 305,923

Typically, 700 meals are served each day and more than 5,000 hours of volunteer help are received each year.

Demographics

As reported by Saint Francis House, a brief summary of their guest population demographics: [Cf. [http://www.stfrancishouse.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Guests "Our Guests"] - Saint Francis House website, 2008]
* Ethnicity
** 38% African American
** 30% Caucasian
** 25% Latino
** 7% members of other ethnic groups
* Gender
** 80% male
** 20% female.
* Age
** Two-thirds are between the ages of 25 and 44
* Special populations
** 70% suffer from major mental illness, substance abuse, or both
** Common health issues include attention deficits, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and HIV/AIDS
** Women, young adults aging out of the Department of Youth Services system, and former criminal offenders are the three fastest growing sub-populations

ee also

*Homelessness

Notes

Bibliography

*Keane, Thomas, Jr., [http://tomkeane.com/archives/2003/tom07042003.htm "Greiff's activism isn't just a good act"] , Friday, July 4, 2003 - on Ira Greiff, a co-founder of Saint Francis House.

Further reading

*Barry, Ellen, [http://web.archive.org/web/20040617073529/http://www.seiu509.org/somchai.cfm "A Refugee's Triumph Over Desolation"] , Boston Globe, December 28, 2003. - comments by Tim Bulla, social worker at Saint Francis House.
*Crimaldi, Laura, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/1185709481.html?dids=1185709481:1185709481&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+26%2C+2006&author=LAURA+CRIMALDI&pub=Boston+Herald&edition=&startpage=6&desc=Cardinal+spends+time+with+homeless "Cardinal Spends Time With Homeless"] , Boston Herald, December 26, 2006.

Multimedia

*WFXT, Fox 25 News, Boston, [http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=1873026&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1 "Cardinal Celebrates Christmas : Cardinal Sean O'Malley spent part of his day with those in need"] , Monday, 25 Dec 2006, 5:32 PM EST. TV video piece on Saint Francis House Christmas dinner, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.stfrancishouse.org/ Saint Francis House, Boston]
*Charity Navigator's statistics for St. Francis House [http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/8516.htm]
* [http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/CorpSearchSummary.asp?ReadFromDB=True&UpdateAllowed=&FEIN=222519129 St. Francis House corporate filings with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Secretary]