Double click the photo of the car for the article on homeless women.

Click on the photos...................

It was an unusually cold, rainy, morning for a homeless count. At the edge of the woods behind an abandoned warehouse I recognized the old Chevy sitting on flat tires. It was Elinor and her three sons living in her mother’s old Chevy. Her appearance was disheveled and bruised. They were cold and hungry. Their remaining possessions crowded the old car. After Elinor’s mother died, she’d lost her mother’s disability income. Elinor struggled looking for work before becoming homeless, but without completing high school, work was difficult to find. Her landlord had evicted them, and the women’s center was full, having only 14 beds. When her phone was stolen, she lost the ability to easily communicate. Elinor and her boys were isolated, hungry, and her boys hadn’t been attending school. Elinor was scared and feared for their safety.

  Elinor’s a young woman of 29. When in high school her brother John helped to provide for their struggling family until John lost his life in Afghanistan, dramatically impacting her family. After dropping out of her senior year in high school to have her eldest son, Elinor married Steven, her high school sweetheart. Being diligent, Elinor found work to support her family as Steven’s employment had become irregular. When Steven failed a drug test, he lost the most recent in a string of jobs. Elinor and Steven’s struggling marriage lasted through the birth of her first two sons, but they separated before their third was born. The blessing was that Elinor no longer had to bare the emotional pain and bruises from Steven’s abuse. After their separation, Steven abandoned his family, disappearing.

   When Elinor contacted St. Vincent de Paul, she, her mother Mary, and her three boys were living in a dirty peach colored 40+ year-old-metal-clad trailer. A cold, uninsulated, plywood box had been hastily added to the rear of the trailer to add another needed bedroom. Mary’s old car sat in the driveway, not running. Silent and no longer working because of a stroke, Mary sat quietly at a table struggling with a crossword puzzle. Elinor explained that with too much time away from work, she'd lost her job when they were ill with the flu. Elinor found another job as a waitress, but when the restaurant closed it left her jobless. With a Shutoff Notice, Elinor’s water and electricity were about to be cut off, and she’d received an eviction notice. Mary’s small disability didn’t cover much, and Elinor had no income.

   St. Vincent de Paul repaired the family car so she could look for a job, provided food vouchers so she could buy food, paid her utility bills, and provided her with needed community resources. St. Vincent de Paul negotiated with her landlord and paid past-due rental amounts to make her whole again. Although, St. Vincent de Paul responded with help, what was needed was a more permenant long-term solution. Fortunately, that long-term solution is in-place in many communities where there's a St. Vincent de Paul: food kitchens and pantries, pharmacies, medical and dental clinics, thrift stores providing jobs and clothing, and homeless shelters that can provide counseling, job skills training, temporary shelter, and Rapid Re-Housing. Rapid Re-Housing is a federal program that can take our homeless off the cold streets, from under bridges, and out of the woods and cars to provide many benefits: temporary housing accommodations; programs resolving addictions; counseling;  education and job skill development; sources for jobs to become employed; and to help both individuals and families to stabilize their lives by occupying permanent housing. Once homeless, many improve their lives to become a part of their families again and engage in their communities.  

   The St. Maximilian Kolbe Conference:

1. Has a long-term goal of reducing the homeless population along the Gulf Coast.
2. Will help to reduce homelessness by;

             A.) developing Thrift Stores that will attract people wanting to help, provide jobs and
                   training, and will provide the funds needed to create shelters and other programs.
             B)  developing readily accessible community-based resources, funded by Thrift Stores.
             C)  supporting the development of  community-based Help Centers that will provide: food
                   pantries; kitchens;  restrooms & showers; hygiene; laundry facilities; and other services.
             D.) working collaboratively, helping to fund and develop a, centralized, Family
                    Homeless Shelter.
             F.)  embracing the tenants of a Rapid Re-Housing strategy.
             G.)  collaboration with other established nonprofits and social agencies serving the homeless
                    and those in-need throughout our Gulf Coast areas.
        3.) Will help to develop and support the development of community-based Help
               Centers and a Family  Homeless Shelter through:
              A.)  the development of multiple Thrift Stores.
              B.)  generous donations from compassionate benifactors.
              C.)  foundations and other types of Grants.
              D.)  fundraising efforts.

  The St Vincent de Paul Society has over 450 profitable Thrift Stores throughout the United States funding similar efforts by Vincentians. Although, we are not a legal part of the Society, revenues generated from multiple  Thrift Stores will go toward helping to fund the development of a Family Homeless Shelter, along with its on-going daily operations.

  Your generous Donation will go to help fund the development of a second St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store and it’s associated community-based Help Center. 

This will enable us to provide jobs and training that will instill pride, a feeling of self-worth, develop satisfaction, and will provide a source of income for the disabled, elderly, and those in-need. These benefits improve peoples lives, which in-turn, improve neighborhoods.

Our donations come from generous, compassionate donors, small companies, and corporations wanting to improve life for those struggling in our communities.  We are in our second year of operations in our first thrift store. We are now involved in the layout and planning of  a second store. Covid-19 had set us back several months, but we're now back at it.

Our SVdP Thrift Store address is 2200 Bienville Blvd. Ocean Springs, MS 39564.

Revenues generated from our stores, on-going donations, and grants will continue to help those in-need, and will eventually help to fund the development of a world-class Family Homeless Shelter – a community effort for all to take great pride in. Please help us by donating.

You can DONATE by clicking here.

Hall of Fame broadcaster, award winning author and blogger, Tony Agnesi is a master storyteller. Following his book, A Storyteller’s Guide to a Grace-Filled Life, Tony shares a new collection of stories that celebrate turning life’s misery into ministry. Tony’s award-winning blog was named one of the top 100 Catholic blogs and was a finalist in the 15th annual International weblog awards. A frequent guest on Catholic radio Tony is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild and is a frequent contributor to Christian publications. Tony and Diane, his wife of 46 years, live in Wadsworth, Ohio.

                                        Double click on the photos for St. Vincent de Paul Stories.