From Shelter to Stability
CARITAS History
CARITAS began as an all volunteer effort called Winter Cots in the early eighties. At that time, a convergence of social issues, including the large scale discharge of mental health patients into the general community, razing of low rent downtown hotels, increase in heroin and cocaine use, and a stuttering economy resulted in a dramatic increase of people on the street and in need of shelter. After seeking guidance from Emergency Shelter, Inc., the faith community responded by opening the doors of their downtown churches and synagogues in the evenings to offer shelter and a cot from the winter weather. Each congregation provided shelter for several weeks at a time, offering cots and blankets to those in need. In 1987, this effort was formalized with the incorporation of CARITAS. The agency created a governing board and added paid staff in order to provide support for volunteers and overnight guests. Soon after, paid overnight shelter staff positions were added, along with the expectation for providing meals for overnight guests.
Eventually, the breadth of congregations that desired to be involved spread well beyond the downtown area to include the outer limits of Richmond City and the surrounding counties. Several congregations hosted the program simultaneously, which was still restricted to the coldest months of the calendar year. However, as federal funding streams moved away from supporting emergency shelter beds and began to focus on funding transitional housing programs, many of the emergency shelter beds vanished from the system creating a gap in services. In response to that need, CARITAS went through a strategic planning process and ultimately decided to remain true to its mission as an emergency shelter and to fill the gap by becoming a year-round shelter. As CARITAS grew geographically, we also grew in response to the needs of our guests. Congregations were encouraged to offer showers and laundry which further improved the improved the quality of care for overnight guests.
In order to respond to the growing number of homeless families in the Richmond area, CARITAS created the Family Focus program in 1996 with the help of a donated building on the campus of St. Joseph’s Villa. Congregational volunteers brought dinner in the evening to those staying in the program. With the understanding that a family shelter would need to provide daytime space for the families – especially in the winter months for those with infants, in 1998, two downtown congregations agreed to provide the day shelter space – Grace & Holy Trinity during the week and Centenary United Methodist Church on the weekends – while the evening portion of the program was put into the congregational setting like the single adult program. Soon after, Centenary offered to house families during the day, seven days a week. In 2000, the Family Focus Program it became a year-round emergency shelter and a fixture in the community. To date, CARITAS Family Focus is the only shelter program in our community that shelters large families, families with fathers, and adolescent males.
CARITAS also made the commitment to become a year-round shelter program for single adults and to add case management services. The goal was and is, to provide support beyond basic needs of our clients in an effort to transition homeless adults into stable housing. Thanks to the support of the Richmond area congregations and the hard work of our staff, the CARITAS Single Adult program succeeded in becoming year-round in 2003. Case management services were added that same year. At the conclusion of fiscal 2007-2008, more than 50% of our single adults receiving case management services and over 80% of our Family Focus clients successfully transitioned out of our emergency shelter program.
In August 2006 we moved into our beautiful new office building in northside Richmond where we house our administrative offices, case management offices, and our Family Focus daysite. In September 2008, CARITAS acquired the furniture bank operations from Embrace Richmond and leased a large warehouse in southside Richmond to become the premiere provider of free household goods and furnishings to individuals and families who are exiting homeless shelters and crisis-intervention programs. Embrace Richmond continues on as a separate entity and important partner. Staffing for the furniture bank is provided through a partnership with The Healing Place, a 12-step residential recovery program for homeless men in southside Richmond.
Through the faith and commitment of many servant volunteers, paid staff, community and corporate partners, and financial supporters, much good has happened since our humble beginnings as Winter Cots. We have served many people in need and have brought together thousands of members in our community that might otherwise continued to live estranged from one another spiritually, geographically, socially, and economically. We remain confident that CARITAS will continue to evolve and improve as people of faith partner with people in crisis for the betterment of one another.