“There’s no place like home.”

Members of the Society’s Sacred Heart
Chapel in Lorain are striving to make
this familiar adage a reality for homeless
neighbors as they transition into permanent
supportive housing.

The volunteers have been collecting
new and gently-used household items for
formerly homeless individuals moving
into Bridge Pointe Commons, a new
housing facility in Elyria coordinated
through Catholic Charities and Nord
Foundation. Although the 62 one-bedroom
apartments are minimally furnished,
they lack many essentials necessary for
daily living, according to Mary Clark, the group’s
secretary. She said that the goal is to empower
the new residents with housekeeping items
by providing them with pails of cleaning
supplies and laundry baskets with detergents,
towels and more.

The SVDP group members are also expanding
their ministry to other areas across Lorain
County. In addition to the new apartments,
Bridge Pointe Commons is placing
homeless men in single-dwelling houses
throughout the area, Mary said. “Unlike
the new apartments, the houses are not
even minimally furnished, so Sacred Heart
Chapel members are also trying to supply
staples, food, toiletries, cleaning and
laundry supplies, in addition to donated
furniture we receive.”

For some of the group’s volunteers who have
struggled with poverty at one time or
another, this work takes on additional
relevance, she added. “I think there have
been so many people from our group that have
walked the road. They’ve done without
themselves and know what it is to be in need.
They come with empathy and a giving heart,
so when we hear there’s a need we then come
together to try to make life easier for those less fortunate.”