St. Francis Center is excited to host another Positive Action Towards Housing lunch event on Thursday, May 13th. The event will be virtual again this year featuring a presentation by Chad Holtzinger of Shopworks Architecture which will highlight the challenges and rewards of adaptive reuse and historic preservation of church properties for affordable housing opportunities. The presentation will also include remarks from Tom Luehrs, Executive Director, and a SFC guest with a personal story about the transforming power of housing and services. Registration will be available through our website at www.sfcdenver.org. Please join us. Proceeds will support efforts to develop and provide housing for SFC guests.
COVID-19 Updates
St. Francis Center continues to follow CDC COVID-19 recommendations for cleaning, masking, and social distancing at all its locations. In March, SFC conducted several COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics for staff, volunteers, and guests. More than 100 people have been tested at the SFC clinics in the past 30 days, with one positive test result and close to 300 people have been vaccinated through the vaccination clinics. More testing and vaccination clinics are scheduled at SFC over the next three months.
“State of the Streets”Webinar Recap
Thank you to all those who joined us for a candid discussion about the SFC Street Outreach Program. Many important issues were discussed, including visible homelessness, systemic root causes, challenges of street outreach, and SFC’s plans for safe outdoor spaces. For those who would like to experience the program or watch again please click hereor on the video below. Special thanks to Studio Colfax for co-sponsoring with SFC. We look forward to more community connections, especially in-person events as our community opens back up.
Miss the “State of the Streets” webinar? Click here to watch the event recording!
Street Outreach Saves Lives
This past winter, during his regular outreach work at Union Station, Greyden, a member of SFC’s outreach staff, met Mary, a woman experiencing homelessness in her 70s with health issues. Mary had exhausted other shelter and housing options and slept outside near Union Station every night. Over time, Greyden developed trust and rapport with Mary, bringing her hats, gloves and long underwear, all of which Mary received with graciousness.
In February, the weather was forecasted to dip below zero as an arctic cold front was moving into the Denver Metro area. Greyden was concerned about Mary’s ability to survive the severe cold weather. He worked quickly, connecting with other members of the SFC Outreach Team and a nurse on the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless’ Outreach Team to find Mary’s a motel room through the Protective Action program. Protective Action motel rooms provide people with high COVID-19 risk factors that are experiencing homelessness a respite from the cold, with food and access to health care. As the arctic temperatures settled over Denver, Mary was safe, warm and resting. A week later Mary reached out to Greyden and shared that due to the cold, combined with her exhaustion and poor health, she would have taken her life had Greyden not acted quickly to get her into the motel room. Mary told Greyden that he was the only one who saw her. His compassion and hard work saved her life.
Our SFC staff strive to see our guests and unhoused community members as dignified, valuable people. Thank you for all you do to truly see.
This month, consider supports those in our community experiencing homelessness by donating shoes!
The clothing room is almost completely out of men’s shoes, an item of particular importance for our guests
enduring the unpredictable Colorado spring weather.
For more suggestions of in-kind items, view the list below. Or, stay up to date on needs by visiting the in-kind needs page on our website.
IN-KIND NEEDS
Men’s Jeans
Men’s Shoes (athletic shoes, work boots, and hiking boots)
