About Sarah's Hope at Mount Street

Sarah's Hope is focused on meeting the growing need of single women and their children.  Baltimore City asked St. Vincent de Paul to operate the center as part of Mayor Dixon's ten year plan to end homelessness.  St. Vincent de Paul took over operation of the Mount Street Center in November 2008.

St. Vincent de Paul is an independent charitable organization. Although grounded in Roman Catholic social teaching, the organization's work is not about making people Catholic or Christian -- it's about living the message.   Their vision is that all people in our commmunity have the resources and opportunity to care for themselves and their families and to maximize their potential.   St. Vincent de Paul initiatives reflect these tenets
-    Volunteers and guests can have a positive impact on each other,
-    Programs are structured to uphold the dignity of all those involved, and
-    All staff, volunteers and guests should be treated with respect.

Sarah's Hope is focused on meeting the growing need of single women and their children.  Baltimore City asked St. Vincent de Paul to operate the center as part of Mayor Dixon's ten year plan to end homelessness.  St. Vincent de Paul took over operation of the Mount Street Center in November 2008.

Sarah's Hope services include
- Shelter for women with children or pregnant
- 3 meals a day, 7 days a week
- Case Management
- Parenting, life skills and job readiness training
- Children's activities

Residents can stay 4-6 months. The goal is to stop families from cycling through social services and shelters by giving them the time and training to become self-sufficient.

The Center is housed in an old school building.   The capacity of the center is 75, but currently they are housing over 80 women and children.  Five or six families share a classroom.  Infants are in playpens and cots are provided for everyone else.  The staff try to emphasize community involvement in clean up and care for the facility to build a sense of responsibility in the guests.

During the week, evening meals are provided by the St. Ambrose food service training program.  They appreciate having volunteers to serve the meals since it makes a more gracious dinner for the families.    Dinner is served in two seatings, at 6:00 and 6:30.   On weekends, Sarah's Hope needs groups to prepare and deliver hot meals.   Bagged lunches are also welcome, especially for weekends.     

There are lots of ways people can help:
- VOLUNTEER!
- Collect wish list items
- Donate
- Do service projects
- Attend the "Empty Bowls" fundraiser
- Tell your friends about St. Vincent de Paul

Ashland Responds

Ashland volunteers will be preparing a hot meal once each month on Saturday night, along with bagged lunches for the next day.  Donations for wish list and lunch items are welcomed and we deliver those contributions with the meal.   Extra hands are always needed to pack lunches and prepare meals.   The Youth Group help organize special collections and activities throughout the year.

We have divided into three teams that will take turns so that most volunteers will only need to serve once a quarter. Teams consist of five to cook and serve, plus one person to take charge of cleaning up the Light Street kitchen.  Shopping will be done by one person for the specific menu planned.  The church mission budget has included funds to support the meals.    We will set out a time schedule for the meal preparation when we have the menu selected.

If you would like to participate, please contact me at 410-472-3248 or by email to cbwalter at gmail dot com.  

Thanks!

Carol Walter

January 2010