MOVE Father Joe’s providing vaccines
new 28-bed shelter at its East Village campus and has begun providing COVID-19 vaccines at its medical clinic. Construction workers this week will top off the 14-story, 407-unit St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa affordable housing project expected to open in about a year. And on Tuesday, the nonprofit partnered with the United Way and Team Mulvaney, longtime supporters of Father Joe’s Villages, to begin distributing 3,000 blankets and 500 towels to homeless people, he said.
The Shelter to Home program — its name comes from an ongoing effort to connect clients with housing — opened last April out of concerns that other cityrun shelters operated by the two service providers might be vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus because of their tight quarters.
The Convention Center shelter always was intended to be temporary, but its closing day has been uncertain. The program has been extended a few times, and Vargas said he expects this time the move will happen by the end of March.
Father Joe’s originally moved clients into Golden Hall in April 2019 when it closed a tented shelter on its
East Village campus to prepare for the construction of the St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa.
When the pandemic hit, some beds in the Golden Hall shelter were moved from the second to the first floor to create more distance between them in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but concerns about health conditions there prompted the city to move clients to the more spacious Convention Center.
With COVID-19 cases decreasing and vaccines being administered, there are hopeful signs that the end of the pandemic is in sight, and the Convention Center could return to its intended use.
Maren Dougherty, director of marketing and communications for the Convention Center, said it will take 21 days to prepare the venue for hosting events. Looking at their calendar, however, shows there is no rush.
“At this time we hope to have some activity return this summer, but what that will look like, we don’t know,” she said. “We still have a full calendar of events booked for the second half of the year, but many of those clients have to make a decision soon.”
For now, Dougherty said the Convention Center is waiting to hear guidelines from the state on how to safely reopen.
Vargas said beds at Golden Hall will be placed over two floors, and he expects the capacity could increase from 300 up to 500.
The capacity at the two tented shelters operated by the Alpha Project will be reduced to create more space, and the city is expected to provide more details about the transition next week.
Father Joe’s also recently opened a new 28-bed shelter for homeless women at its Bishop Maher Center in East Village. Vargas said there is a need for such shelters because some homeless women are reluctant to go into shelters that also serve men.
In another recent activity, Father Joe’s began distributing blankets and towels in the fourth annual “Warm Your Heart” drive launched by Team Mulvaney.
Vargas said the Mulvaney family has been a supporter of Father Joe’s since
Jim Mulvaney was one of the founding chairs of the nonprofit in the 1980s. Jim Mulvaney Jr. was on the board after his father passed away, and his son Brian now serves on the board. Brother David makes up the rest of the team.
The blankets will help keep people warm, Vargas said, and the clean, new towels are important because homeless people can use them when they wash their face in a public restroom.
“It’s these little things that you and I take for granted,” he said about the blankets and towels, adding that the annual effort helps restore dignity to people living on the street.