The coldest day in four years served as a bone-deep reminder of the travails of being homeless as the House of Faith held an open house last Saturday to acquaint the public with its young transitional residence.
Seven formerly homeless people live in four apartments above a storefront Church at 244 Ege Ave., with an eighth expected to arrive last Saturday. Residents have up to two years to save money and acquire the skills and contacts they need to make it on their own.
Dozens of volunteers and organizations throughout the city offered help to House of Faith residents, rooting for their success.
“We knew each other and came together to help the single homeless population,” said Founder Sister Maria Cordis, who drafted her mother’s home health aide Renee Martin as one of the founding members.
A community collaboration
Before founding the Hoboken-based House of Faith organization, Cordis had been working as Guidance Director for Sacred Heart Academy in Hoboken since 1981, bringing the high school-aged girls to volunteer at the Hoboken Clergy Emergency shelter.
“We went there every Wednesday to cook, serve and clean up,” said Cordis. “It was the girls who wanted to do more.”
Cordis credits the Sacred Heart the girls’ initiative which led them to partner with students at St. Rose of Lima School in Short Hills to form an outreach program called Learning to Serve America, which was renamed Step by Step in 1994.
“They saw the need, and they wanted to act on the need,” Cordis said.
The 22-week program operates out of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Hoboken
“We go into the shelters, like Hoboken Clergy Coalition on Third and Bloomfield in Hoboken, and St. Lucy’s on Grove Street [in Jersey City], and invite them,” Cordis said. “Participants in Step by Step attend GED, literacy, ESL or computer classes and attend seminars on money management, health issues, interviewing techniques in addition to motivational speakers and CPR classes.”
In 1994, Cordis incorporated House of Faith with visions of opening a temporary home offering support services and counseling for single homeless people who are adjusting to working life and the transition between homelessness and self sufficiency.
“There are organizations that help women and children, people with AIDS, and families,” said Cordis, “but there is not very much that takes care of single men and women.”
Cordis and other volunteers grew Step by Step as a way of continually reaching out to the homeless population as plans for the transitional housing fermented.
“We didn’t know how to realize that dream, so we started with Step by Step,” said Dr. Barbara Lee Perlmutter, a volunteer doctor for the group. “We called it Step by Step because it was a step on the way to transitional housing, and to the people who used it, it was a step towards independence.”
Perlmutter, a staff member at St. Mary hospital who lives in Port Liberte in Jersey City, has provided free medical services to Learning to Serve and Step by Step since 1990. She became aware of Learning to Serve through her involvement with the Sisters of Charity, as a Seton Associate.
“Anyone who needs to see a doctor comes to see me,” said Perlmutter. “I usually carry enough antibiotics around with me so we can take care of the little things right there. If it’s something we can’t handle, I’ll find medical care for them. I tell them it’s kind of like having a relative that’s a doctor.”
Last week, Perlmutter personally brought a participant in the program to the hospital’s crisis unit.
“She was suicidal, and [Perlmutter] brought her there herself,” Cordis said.
Funding
The transitional housing opened in March of 2003, renting space from the NY Synod of Evangelical Church in America. The first three years of its 10-year lease is paid for by a $1 million federal HUD grant. A $312,400 grant from the state Department of Community Affairs in 2002 paid for renovations, creating four two-bedroom apartments.
“Step by Step is a precursor for coming here,” said Cordis. “The benefit is that we know people pretty well.”
Success stories
At Saturday’s open house, three residents were presented with plaques for achieving milestones on their way to self sufficiency.
Shirl Johnson was offered a permanent job at EZ Pass, where she had been working as a temp. Jeneary Simmons enrolled in computer classes at the Doe Foundation, a social service agency which offers job preparation services for the homeless population. Raymond Engman was offered a job working for Convention Center Services at the Hyatt hotel on the Jersey City waterfront.
“I found that job position online,” said Engman. “After Thanksgiving, I was given an interview. I went through four interviews and a drug screen.”
Before coming to House of Faith four months ago, Engman lived in a Salvation Army Adult Rehab Center.
The open house also brought visitors from other neighborhood organizations to offer future help. Members of Legion of Mary, a prayer and community service group from St. Aloysius, came by late in the day, offering to bring in clothes and inquiring about how they could help. Joan Haslach of the third order of St. Francis of Assisi, which operates out of Our Lady of Victory, also on Ege Ave., also stopped in to see how her group could assist.
“We’ll get them whatever they need for when they move out, like bedding, pots and pans, or furniture,” Haslach said.
Renee Reilly, who volunteered as a housing specialist before being hired by the agency full-time, helps find people housing through Section 8, Catholic Community Services, and the internet.
Not just helping, but interacting with the people involved, is what drives the volunteers.
“The thing I enjoy is the relationship that develops with the guests that come every week to the Step by Step program,” said Perlmutter. “And as they grow, I think we grow as well.”