|
Name of Charitable Cause: St. Clare Inn
Charity Website: www.stclareinn.org
Charity Category: Homeless
Charity City: Toronto
Charity Province: ON
Country: Canada
What Your Charity Does: Care & shelter for homeless women with mental health issues
Submitted by: Mark Fodchuk
If you help only one woman, it’s a beginning.
I first heard about St. Clare Inn for homeless women through a friend who was donating her time to help raise funds to support the Inn. Actually, St. Clare isn’t really an “Inn”, but an older, two-story residence for homeless women who are dealing with mental health issues.
Friar Tom, one of the volunteer directors for the Inn, told me that when women first come here, many are like “sad, old broken dolls. But soon after, a transformation happens—they become real again.”
St. Clare Inn was inspired by the story of "Julie” a homeless, middle-aged woman who lived much of her latter life in a bus shelter near St. Bonaventure Church in Toronto. The newspaper account of Julie's sad life and death became a catalyst for the creation of St. Clare Inn.
The goal of the Inn is to provide a home where women, whose lives were anything but normal before, can learn to relax, feel secure and re-build their torn lives and self-esteem. Older women, especially ones who may have mental health issues, have very limited options. Many have lost employment, their families and their home. Rootless, they face a future of homelessness and loneliness—that’s why the Inn is such a welcome place.
Friar Tom mentioned that he was touched when one woman told him, “This is the first Christmas stocking I ever hung in my life.” That comment touched me too. So I’m nominating St. Clare Inn for the “Show Us Your Goodness” Award.
The only funding the Inn gets is from private donations. But more than just financial help, it also needs volunteers to help around the residence--to assist with house and yard maintenance or to help the women with cooking lessons, make-up, haircuts, sewing—-simple acts of kindness that can mean so much.
If you can help, please do.
|
