If you are experiencing financial and/or emotional crises, food insecurity,  in need of housing assistance, or problems securing a case manager, please contact our Social Worker, Jeanne Denny, at (207) 390-1763.

Serving the Homeless
by Christine Fee, Pastoral Life Coordinator
From Parish Bulletin, November 2019

Part 1 of a two-part series on focuses on current efforts underway to provide the homeless in our area with a safe and warm place to stay at night during the cold winter months. For the past two years, St. Brendan the Navigator Parish has joined forces with other local churches, municipal officials and the Knox County Homeless Coalition to address this issue. This first article will focus on our parish’s efforts, even before the current one, to help the homeless.
 
Many of us are familiar with Hospitality House in Rockport, where services and housing are provided to homeless in our area. But do you know that Hospitality House got its start right here in our parish?
 
The original Hospitality House opened its doors on Dec. 8, 1988 in the basement of Our Lady of Good Hope Church in Camden after a group of concerned citizens representing several local churches came together to make sure the homeless had a warm and safe place to stay overnight during the bitterly cold winter months.
 
“We purchased 12 cots from Army Surplus. Volunteers brought in casseroles. Frank and Rena Zak were the first managers,” Susan Silverio, founder and volunteer executive director from 1988-2004, said in an email.
 
“Frank came in after his shift as a security guard at the hospital and stayed the night. Our first guest traveled by bus to visit her husband in prison. Our first homeless guest was a young Lincolnville man, newly out, who was no longer welcome at home,” Silverio said.
 
Silverio said the need grew and the group incorporated, got an interest-free loan from the Maine State Housing Authority, and purchased an old and dilapidated farmhouse on Old County Road in Rockport. She said the group became a non-profit and to raise awareness and funds
sponsored a well-attended Bowl-a-Thon and sold pies. The group also got operating guidelines and advise from other shelters and spoke to area churches, nonprofits and service groups about the effort. Many churches and individuals donated to the cause.
 
“Then the ‘Not in My Backyard’ battle began,” Silverio said. The Town of Rockport refused to rezone the house, located in a residential zone, for use as a shelter. “We appealed and a dozen church pastors turned out for the hearing. We were granted a variance and bought six bunk beds from the Maine State Prison and opened in August of 1989, with the Zaks as volunteer resident managers,” Silverio said.
 
With the help of state grants, local organizations and local contractors, Silverio said the group was able to add an entrance and stairwell to the old farmhouse to meet fire code, installed fire alarms and security systems. Over the years, the group repaired windows, reroofed and repainted the house inside and out.
 
She said the stories are endless and by 2010 there were 15 beds and 201 guests that year, including many children, with a total of 4,049 bed nights. She said breakfast and dinners were served each day and the annual budget was $105,000.
 
The next year the board chair died suddenly. The Knox County Coalition for the Homeless took over and still maintains the operation of the Hospitality House.
 
But sadly, this is not the end of this story. The need to assist our homeless and near homeless in our area has only increased.
 
The next installment will focus on what is happening today.

Part 2 of a two-part series on current efforts underway to provide the homeless in our area with a safe and warm place to stay at night during the cold winter months. For the past two years, St. Brendan the Navigator Parish has joined forces with other local churches, municipal officials and the Knox County Homeless Coalition to address this issue. This second article focuses on the parish’s efforts over the last two years.
 
St. Brendan the Navigator Parish continues to lead the charge against homelessness and near homelessness in our midcoast area. But before I explain current efforts, let us go back somewhat to fill in a little background first.
 
The St. Bernard Soup Kitchen remains our parish’s largest ministry serving anywhere from 60-100 people a hot noontime lunch Monday through Friday. In November of 2017 the parish, with a grant from Catholic Charities of Maine, hired a part-time social worker, Jeanne Denny, to help address some of the needs, beyond hunger, that the Soup Kitchen patrons face. The parish office also needed Jeanne’s expertise with the growing number of calls to the church for help. It soon became apparent that housing was a huge, if not, the single biggest issue in our area. There is little to no affordable housing. The nearest homeless shelter is 52 miles away in Augusta. For years area churches have been paying for motel rooms for those with nowhere else to turn. While the Hospitality House now has 30-plus beds and a case management load of 150 for services at any one time, the waiting list for housing and services is topping 300, said Whitney Files of the Knox County Homeless Coalition.
 
At our parish’s invite roughly two years ago, a small group of clergy and other concerned citizens gathered at Our Lady of Good Hope Church in Camden to discuss the issue of homelessness. Everyone agreed there was a problem and that the goal was to have a cold weather emergency shelter pilot program. A committee was formed, and the group has been meeting monthly to explore many different models and ways to have a shelter. The Knox County Homeless Coalition decided to join the effort and agreed to be the fiscal agent for the group, as well as, provide staff and training for the shelter.
 
In a big win, the Cold Weather Emergency Shelter Committee received Rockland City Council approval last month to run a pilot cold weather shelter at the Rockland Recreational Center. The group is elated, and plans are to have the shelter up and running next winter. The pilot will, among other things, assess the need for such a shelter in our area and, if the need is there, to seek a permanent home for the shelter.
 
Currently the committee is working to hire paid staff and train volunteers for the winter of 2020-21. A huge fundraising effort is now underway. Currently the group has raised roughly $25,000 of the estimated $70,000 it will need to get the project off the ground. If you would like to learn more about this project, how to donate, and/or how to get involved, please reach out to Jeanne Denny or Christine Fee at emergencyshelterpilot@gmail.com. We welcome your interest so that no one has to sleep out in the cold.