PROVIDENCE HOUSE, INC. VOLUME XX. NO.2 September 2005

Providence House Heartline

PROVIDENCE HOUSE RANKED #2 AMONG DEPARTMENT OF HOMELESS SERVICES

SHELTER PROGRAMS !

F or the past two years, the New

York City Department of

Homeless Services (DHS) has

linked its payment for shelter services

to performance outcome.

The goal of this performance

Investment Program (PIP) is to invest

in DHS‟ best performers, namely those

organizations that engage residents in

the housing process and are able to

successfully move families into

permanent housing. In addition, the PIP

provides payments to the organization

based on their performance outcome.

In all, 134 programs were evaluated,

and Providence House I on Church

Avenue ranked #2 in New York City, with a 9.9 -

„Excellent‟ rating! Three other Providence House programs

I, III, and VII, which also serve

homeless families, ranked in the upper

third, or „Very Good‟ category.

At a press conference held in July to

celebrate the top 16 agencies and their

staff who received the „Excellent‟

ratings, Commissioner Linda Gibbs,

remarked that a record 7,078 families,

including an estimated 12,500

homeless children, were placed into

permanent housing, an 11% increase

over the previous year.

We congratulate the staff of

Providence House who worked hard to

achieve their housing targets and

helped these families successfully

move into their own homes. Certainly this is an achievement

worth celebrating!

(left) S. Constance Kennedy, PH Director of Congregate Programs, and Mr. Roger Newman, DHS Deputy Commissioner

(center) S. Janet Kinney, PH Executive Director,

UPDATE:

NEW PROGRAM INITIATIVES

HEALTHY PROGRESS By: Sister Marie Sorenson,

Associate Director

I n our last issue we shared with you

two new programs initiated

through grants receive by United

Way (Nutrition) and Fidelis Care

(Health Services) to provide residents

with an array of options for healthy

living…and from all reports these

programs are doing just that.

Under the direction of Karen

Russell, assisted by Sister Karen

Keegan and the House Managers, the

Nutrition Workshops were a great

success. Residents who participated

experienced a well prepared

curriculum, hands on meal preparation

and skills that can be taken with them

when they obtain their own apartments.

The “grand finale” workshop consisted

of a healthy and delicious meal

followed by the distribution of

certificates and a treasure trove of

household items the residents will take

with them to their new apartments.

Sister Karen Keegan in her role as

Nurse Case Manager has been very

busy providing health assessments to

all residents and their children.

Residents are happy to see Sister Karen

coming through the door as she is able

to assist them with a number of health

related issues regarding medication,

childhood illnesses, preventive care,

ongoing health problems and advocacy

during a hospital stay.

Providence House is making

“Healthy Progress” for the women and

children who come to stay with us and

we hope these skills and knowledge

move on with them as they transition to

independence.

MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 4

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL WATER CLUB EVENT

“PEOPLE OF HOPE CELEBRATION”

JUNE 9, 2005

A special evening was enjoyed

by family, friends and

supporters of Providence

House at our annual “People of Hope

Celebration” held on June 9th at the

Water Club.

, CNN Anchor and Host of

American Morning, graced us with her

presence as the Master of Ceremonies.

This year‟s event honored two

wonderful couples, Sterling and

Stacey Ball, and Bob and Lucy

Kinney, both who have been long time

supporters of the Providence House

mission and have demonstrated a deep

commitment and concern for the

women and families we serve.

Providence House also honored the

late Sister Kathleen Toner, IHM who

dedicated many years of her ministerial

life to the care of women and children

at Samaritan House, the agency which

she had founded in Park Slope,

Brooklyn. Just prior to her death in

2003, Providence House moved one of

its shelter programs into the original

Samaritan House where Sister Kathy

herself had lived. Sister Maureen

Cryan, IHM and Sister Kathy‟s sister

Maureen Toner Barry, shared with our

guests their memories of Kathy and

expressed their gratitude to Providence

House for assuring her ministry would

continue.

This evening‟s celebration raised

$157,000 which will be used for

program services and facility

improvements in Providence Houses.

Thank you to all who made it such a

success!

Soledad O’Brien

Bob and Lucy Kinney and S. Janet Kinney

Sterling and Stacey Ball and

The D’Addario’s

The Mulhollands, S. Mary Ross and

Janet D’Addario

S. Maureen Cryan, Maureen T. Barry

S pending my summer at Providence House has been quite

a memorable experience. Despite feeling afraid on my

first day in the city that never sleeps, to feeling

overwhelmed when the kids at my house would jump all over

me begging me to wait on them to go to summer camp. If I had

to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

I especially enjoyed eating dinner (and breakfast when time

permitted) with all the residents and the Sisters - like one big

happy family. Sometimes I would get emotional when the

women and their children transitioned out of the home, but at

the end of it all I could smile because I realized that it was for

their best interest. At the Child Care Center, I could not have

asked for more helpful and fun-loving Providence House staff

than Shanee, Ms. Emily, or a more understanding supervisor

Washington and Lee University’s Shepherd Poverty Program Students

Share Their Experiences Working in the Providence House Child Care Center!

I had never been to New York City when I decided that it

would be a good idea to spend two months of my summer

living in a shelter in Brooklyn, New York. My hometown,

with less than two hundred people and all dirt roads certainly

offered no preparation for life in the city, but my experiences at

Providence House this summer provided invaluable lessons.

My main work was at the Providence House Child Care

Center where I spent most of my time as the six-foot tall jungle

gym. All of my anxiety about being rejected as an outsider was

alleviated after the first week of work with these amazingly

resilient children. The theme of this year‟s summer program

was “My First Garden” and as I taught the children about plants

and growth, they helped me to grow as a person by showering

me with their unprejudiced affection. I will miss the chorus of

my name and many hugs when I walk in a room.

They say that kids are the best teachers and I believe that

this was especially true of the children at the center whose life

experiences are so different from my own. I was also able to

learn a lot from the women I lived with in the shelter.

I learned that stereotyping is an awful injustice to the

individuality of human beings. I admire the support services

that the Providence House program offers these women and

children who are much more than just “homeless people.” My

volunteer experience this summer allowed me to live with

women and work with children who helped me more than I ever

helped them.

YAMINCO VARNER

JESSICA HUSSINGER

KRISTINE EARLY

C oming from a city of 60,000 and going to school in a

town of only 6,000, I truly don‟t know what to expect

when I picked up my life to move to New York City

for the summer. I had visited Manhattan before but I had never

set foot in any of the five boroughs. I was more than a little

nervous when I first set foot in Jamaica, Queens, loaded down

with my suitcase and backpack, after my first solo ride on a

subway train.

Everyone, the house managers, the Sisters, and the

Providence House residents worked very hard to make me feel

welcomed and safe, right from the beginning of my stay.

The people truly make Providence House what it is, the

workers, the volunteers, and the residents. I will never forget

the women at Providence House III where I stayed, or my co-

workers and the children I worked with at the daycare where I

interned for eight weeks. They taught me so much.

Although I am excited about the other adventures that await

me, I am hesitant to leave Providence House and will treasure

this summer.

than Pat. Even though I did everything from helping with

addition and subtraction, tracing and practicing letters,

designing crafts, to tying tennis shoes, cleaning noses, and

changing dirty diapers, I feel that I learned twice as much from

the children. They taught me what it means to share, how to

play new games, and what it truly meant to let your hair down

and be a kid (which included dancing and singing to the Disney

movie soundtracks). Not only were all of the kids cute and

unique in their own way, but there will always be a piece of

them with me when I go home.

If I had to say what I will miss the most about this

experience, is definitely the Sisters and Nestloye the House

Manager. The Sisters are the sweetest group of women I had

ever met and in their own special way they all brought joy to

my life. The most important lesson that I learned from the

Sisters and the residents was that home is what you make it.

After my first week at the residence, I felt Providence House II

was really a place I could call home, and even though I was not

with my biological family, I felt a sense of family with all those

that surrounded me. I leave this experience hoping my presence

was felt in a positive way and that I am missed as much as I

will miss each person I met while at Providence House this

summer. I will always be willing to come back to Providence

House to share my gift of helping others as long as there is

always room for me.

(l) Kristine Early, YaMinco Varner and Jessica Hussinger

WOMEN SPEAK

PROVIDENCE HOUSE, INC.

703 Lexington Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11221 Website: www.providencehouse.org Email: info@providencehouse.org (718) 455-0197 phone (718) 455-0692 fax

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID BROOKLYN, NY 11256

PERMIT NO. 84

P rovidence House,

House of Hope.

After being

incarcerated for three

years, entering Providence

House has been a warm

and nurturing place to

begin again.

It begin October 14,

2004. I was fortunate to

enter with a job. The case

manager helped me to

navigate through the social

service agencies I had to deal with, as

well as assist me in sorting out my

plans for my future.

Everyone from the case managers,

house managers and the Sisters are

always concerned and available to help

in anyway they can. The holidays were

joyful and very special. I‟ve received

“HOUSE OF HOPE”

By Lorrayne Patterson

assistance. I‟m now living

in the Coney Island house

which is independent

living. This has really

helped me in a lot of

ways, where I am

responsible for myself,

and my comings and

goings are not monitored.

There is always a smile

to greet you in the

morning and wish you a

pleasant day. When I

decided to go to college in the fall, I

will be receiving a Switzer scholarship

provided through Providence House.

Believe me, being on parole and

beginning life again is not easy bit I

can honestly say that Providence

House is truly a House of God and a

House of Hope.

GRANTS

Carnegie Corporation of New York $25,000

Martha Mertz Foundation

$13,000

Independence Community Foundation

$10,000

CSJ Ministry Fund $10,000

Blanchard Family Foundation

$6,000

Westchester Coalition $1,552

United Way/New Rochelle

$1,315

North Fork Bank $1,000

Many thanks to the foundations

corporations, donors, friends and

families who continue to support

Providence House in its mission to

serve homeless women and children.

To Learn More on How You Can

Support Providence House,

Please Visit our Website:

www.providencehouse.org