Twenty-five years later, Holy Family Shelter finds a new home
Movers with Two Men and a Truck carry furnishings into the new Holy Family Shelter on Nov. 19, which was the 25th anniversary of the opening of the first Holy Family Shelter at 30 E. Palmer St. on the near south side in Indianapolis. The new shelter is located at 907 N. Holmes Ave. next to Holy Trinity Church on the near west side in Indianapolis. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By Mary Ann Wyand
Twenty-five years to the day after the archdiocese opened Holy Family Shelter on the near south side in Indianapolis to serve homeless families, moving crews from Two Men and a Truck were loading furnishings, equipment and supplies onto trucks for transport to the new emergency shelter on the near west side of the city.
It was an emotional experience for the shelter staff members, who work hard around the clock to serve Christ by keeping the facility open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all 365 days of the year in order to provide safe lodging and social services for families in crisis situations who have no place to call home.
Nov. 19 was a cold, windy and overcast day, but shelter staff members barely noticed the chilly late autumn weather as they cheerfully pitched in to help direct the move from 30 E. Palmer St. near Sacred Heart of Jesus Church to 907 N. Holmes Ave. next to Holy Trinity Church. (Related story | Photo gallery)
Nearly six years ago, the archdiocese began planning the construction of a larger homeless shelter for families because of the great need for emergency housing.
The facility has operated for a quarter century as a 30- to 45-day emergency shelter, with 27 days as the average length of stay for the more than 9,000 homeless families served there.
Moving some of the furnishings and supplies from the Palmer Street location was done with care to avoid disturbing the families still living there during the transition. The crews also moved donated furnishings from storage space at St. Patrick Parish in Indianapolis. Nine men worked on the move, which was a company gift to the archdiocese.
Shelter staff members hope to welcome families to the new 30,000 square foot building by mid-December.
Inside the Palmer Street facility, Amber Ames, the shelter’s director of operations, worked with the moving crews.
“We’ve had 9,238 families come through our doors here,” Ames said. “The shelter has served 22 families every night for 25 years with only 18,000 square feet. The families living here now are already going through enough life changes and upheaval so we want their move to the new shelter to be as smooth as possible.”
Corporate and community support for the shelter’s ministry has always been wonderful during the holidays, Ames said. “We have a lot to be thankful for, especially this year. We’ve had a lot of items donated for the new shelter.”
The Catholic Charities agency also continues to operate Holy Family Transitional Housing, which provides assistance to homeless families for up to two years at St. Patrick Parish.
While the moving crews unloaded furniture at the new shelter, Bill Bickel, director of Holy Family Services, and other staff members coordinated that part of the relocation.
In addition to providing the basic needs of shelter and food, Bickel said the larger facility will enable the staff to better assist families with a variety of social services, which include life skills instruction, case management, job training, educational assistance, a medical clinic and youth services to help them achieve success and stability in the future.
The new shelter has 23 bedrooms for families, including two larger bedrooms for several single women with children.
“Given the fact that for the past quarter century, Holy Family Shelter has been serving the poorest of the poor of families in our community, it’s a milestone that we’re sadly approaching 10,000 homeless families served,” Bickel said. “But it’s also a milestone in the sense of a celebration in that we now have a new facility to accommodate this increasing demand of family homelessness in our community, and at the same time to have the appropriate service space, which was sorely lacking for all these years in the former convent at Sacred Heart Parish.
“Now we will be able to bring in far more community partners to help us with this work, and to do it in a dignified, compassionate space,” he said. “While they’re going through this tragic time of homelessness, the ability to have appropriate family time in the privacy of their own room as they learn how to become self-sufficient is very important.”
The new shelter is attached to Holy Trinity Church, and located near two city bus lines on West Michigan and West 10th streets, which helps 85 percent of the homeless families that rely on public transportation.
Also near the new shelter are several social service organizations, including Christamore House, Hawthorne Community Center, Haughville Library, a health clinic and Goodwill Industries training center.
“This shelter is clearly a community effort, … an incredible work of the community,” Bickel said. “You can imagine that it would be tough being homeless any time of the year, but to be homeless during the holidays and to have children makes it pretty difficult.
“The shelter staff has been incredible,” he said. “It’s one thing to move into a new facility and the excitement about that, but it’s another thing to do it and sustain the current services [at the old shelter] because of this incredible demand.” †
