St. Elizabeth Shelters operates two emergency shelters – Men’s & Casa Familia for women and families – and three longer-term supportive living programs for adults with disabilities, families with children and the recently homeless. Its goal is to move people from homelessness into housing with the newfound skills needed to maintain that housing and not become homeless again.
To assist homeless individuals and families by providing emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling, supportive housing and referrals to partnering human services agencies. St. Elizabeth Shelter’s ultimate goal is to end the cycle of homelessness.
More About St. Elizabeth Shelters
On any given night more than 200 people are housed at St. Elizabeth’s five programs and by year’s end the total will be more than 600. These individuals will receive more than 60,000 bed nights of shelter, 70,000 meals, 25,000 case-management units and, most importantly, nearly 50% will have moved into housing. Add to that the nearly 60,000 referrals for services and 65,000 distributions of needed items as food, clothing, supplies, mail, etc. to those still living on the streets.
How You Can Help
Given its limited budget, St. Elizabeth depends on volunteers in many capacities. They man the front desk at the Men’s Shelter during daytime hours interacting with the public, provide nightly meals at the Men’s and Casa Familia shelters, do maintenance work and assist in other ways. Besides volunteering, individuals can bring needed items to the shelter to be redistribution to those still living on the streets, such as clothing, blankets, food, personal hygiene supplies, etc.
Given its homeless clientele, St. Elizabeth cannot charge for its services and therefore depends on a mixture of philanthropic giving and governmental support to fulfill its mission. By far the largest share of charitable donations – 65% — come from individuals and are the vital source of funding that supports needed programs and services.
To donate, visit https://www.steshelter.org/.
Story and Photography by St. Elizabeth Shelters
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