Later this fall, Catholic Charities will open the new Homeless Day Resource Center in Madison.
We have a lot of plans for the center, but right now I’m asking for your help because we are missing something . . . the center needs a name! I’m asking all of you to help by participating in our naming campaign!
Please give it some real thought. We need a good, strong, meaningful name that will stand the test of time.
MADISON — A contest is being held to name the new homeless day resource center operated by Catholic Charities with submissions being accepted from March 22 to April 7.
Groups, businesses, schools, clubs, and individuals can enter a naming idea and be eligible to win a gift with recognition at the ribbon cutting when the center opens in the fall.
I bundled up on a very cold and windy evening last Tuesday night and met some new friends in the parking lot of First Methodist Church in downtown Madison.
Dennis, Daniel, and Sam were kind enough to invite me to help in their efforts to serve the homeless. This is what they do every Tuesday night as part of “Friends of the State St. Family.”
MADISON — Catholic Charities Madison is partnering with Bethel Lutheran Church to operate the Warming Center for the Homeless in downtown Madison this winter.
The center is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Catholic Charities has committed to working at the center on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, said Derrick L. Smith, director of strategic planning and special projects for Catholic Charities. Bethel Lutheran is covering Tuesdays and Thursdays.
MADISON — On an August afternoon this past summer, I had the opportunity to talk with “Jack,” a military veteran who had once been homeless but has been off the streets for a number of years.
Jack had been raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm with 11 siblings and served in the Korean War. As we talked, I learned how the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital program for helping homeless vets recover helped Jack take charge of his life.
We met at Jack’s apartment with Matt Heldman, VA peer specialist at the William S. Middleton VA Memorial Hospital in Madison, himself a homeless vet who experienced a successful recovery.
MADISON — Two dozen years of experience in outreach and management are some of the strong leadership skills Judith Metzger will provide as the new director of the day resource center for the homeless at 615 E. Washington Ave. near downtown Madison.
Metzger has been hired to operate the center when it opens next year by Catholic Charities Madison, who is in a partnership with Dane County.
“I am impressed by the high standards and commitment to excellence in delivering widespread services to individuals and families in need,” Metzger said.LANCASTER — During the 2015-2016 school year, almost 150 students were identified as experiencing homelessness in Grant County. This does not take into account children who are not in school, so the numbers could be higher.
A national organization that helps families who experience homelessness recently arrived in Grant County in an attempt to “Shelter the Homeless.”
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| Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison talks at a September 7 press conference at Holy Name Heights in Madison announcing a partnership between Dane County and Catholic Charities Madison for a new homeless day resource center in Madison that will open next year. Also pictured with the bishop are Derrick Smith, director of strategic planning and special projects, Catholic Charities Madison (seated far left), and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi (seated second from left). (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — Bishop Robert C. Morlino called it a way to “deepen our effort to be good neighbors, one to another in these days.”
On September 7, the bishop, along with city and county leaders, leaders with Catholic Charities Madison, and other organizations that help the area homeless announced and praised a new partnership during a press conference at Holy Name Heights in Madison.
The partnership is between Catholic Charities and Dane County to operate a homeless day resource center to be housed at 615 East Washington Ave. in Madison, near the downtown area.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said the county has been committed to solving the challenge of helping the homeless in the area.
Parisi called it the “ideal location to help our homeless friends in need” and decided to partner with Catholic Charities because “we want to do this right and we want to do this right the first time.”
Catholic Charities Madison was selected as the center operator of the new facility by Dane County through a request for proposals submission process.
The goals for the new partnership include support for those suffering from poverty; refuge from the elements; offering referrals to appropriate services as needed by each individual; providing direct services such as a computer lab, laundry, showers, and storage; and building trusting relationships.
MADISON — A recent report shows that 3,370 people need homeless services in Dane County. The survey included 473 families with 946 children under the age of 18.
“These are disturbing numbers,” said Jackson Fonder, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Madison in an interview. “It catches us in Madison off guard.”
When we think of the work of St. Teresa (or Mother Teresa as we’ll always know her), we remember her helping the poor, sick, and homeless people in the slums of Calcutta.
But do we realize that there are poor and homeless people right in our own communities? It was shocking for me to read about poverty in our own state in a report issued by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
