wfn.org | Students at the General Seminary in New York open a shelter

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2000-126

Students at the General Seminary in New York open a shelter

by Laurie Brock

     (ENS) Curtains and bright paint cover graffiti. On the 
entrance table, a note in a memo book reads: "I'm glad I have my 
own bed. It's nice to sleep in my bed every night." Since April 
17, six to eight elderly homeless men are welcomed as overnight 
guests at the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan.

     They are referred by Peter's Place, a 24-hour drop-in center 
for elderly homeless people in New York City. Staying with the 
men are volunteers from a pool consisting of seminary students, 
spouses and partners, faculty and staff, neighborhood volunteers, 
and volunteers from Holy Apostles and St. Peter's churches in the 
neighborhood. 

     The overnight shelter is open four nights a week during the 
school year from Monday to Thursday and two nights a week, Sunday 
and Monday, during the summer months. The guests arrive by bus 
from Peter's Place each night about 8:30 and depart before 7:00 
each morning. Along with a safe, warm place to sleep, guests can 
read, play a game, and eat a snack. As the volunteer pool 
increases, the seminary plans to increase the number of nights 
that the shelter is open.

Idea began in classroom 

     When did this project start? In the fall of 1999, several 
students in an Anglican Moral Theology class talked about the 
seminary's relationship with the homeless. Jennifer Barrows, a 
student and the director of Peter's Place, told the class of the 
critical need for overnight shelters. 

     The Rev. Mary Haddad, a 2000 graduate of the seminary and 
deacon at St. Mary the Virgin in Manhattan, explained, "We asked 
ourselves what it meant to say daily at Morning Prayer, 'Let not 
the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; nor the hope of the poor be 
taken away.'"

     The class decided that the seminary could offer a response 
to homeless people. With the help of Barrows, students wrote and 
presented to the dean a proposal for an on-campus shelter. 

     After receiving the support of Dean Ward Ewing, the group 
then made a presentation to the seminary's social action 
committee. That committee voted to support a dialogue with the 
seminary community and neighborhood residents about the 
possibility of an on-campus ministry to homeless people.  On 
February 3, 2000, these conversations began. 

     Presentations were made from representatives of agencies 
that work with homeless people in New York City including Brenda 
Griffin and Bill Appel from the Partnership for the Homeless, and 
Alan Fellowes, coordinator for the shelter at Calvary/St. 
George's in Manhattan. That shelter has housed 14 homeless people 
every day since 1982. 

     After five meetings, the seminary community voted to endorse 
the on-campus overnight shelter. A list of volunteers began to 
grow and donations were received to cover startup costs.

Dialogues are crucial

     The dialogues were crucial to the process. "The aim was to 
foster conversation among the many people who would be involved 
and affected by the shelter, said Faith D'Urbano. "These 
discussions also resulted in a large pool of volunteers and the 
ability to open the shelter on the Monday of Holy Week."

     Gaining the community's support  was only one step. Although 
plans were presented during the dialogues, the shelter still 
needed to be built. New York City's Department of Homeless 
Services provided beds, linens, blankets, and laundry service, as 
well as reimbursement for food provided to the guests and for 
heating costs. 

     The seminary provided the physical space, and the volunteer 
work force cleaned, painted, and decorated the new shelter. The 
Partnership for the Homeless provided initial training for 
shelter volunteers. 

     On April 17, with Dr. Tom Breidenthal, professor of 
Christian ethics, officiating, members of the seminary community, 
shelter volunteers, and shelter guests participated in a house 
blessing to open the shelter. Haddad recalled her first night in 
the shelter. "I spent one night in the shelter shortly after it 
opened. It was not one of the best night's sleep I ever had but 
it was very moving," she said. "There was both a strangeness and 
a familiarity to the experience."

     She added, "You are in this room with complete strangers 
shooting the breeze about life and the street and the ways of the 
world. Then, a half hour later, it's lights out. It's a pajama 
party with strangers. I guess you could call it a 'Kingdom of God 
sleep over.'" 

     Jonah Kendall, a senior from the Diocese of New York, 
appreciated the opportunity to be involved in faith-based 
community organizing. "The way of the Gospel is one of service 
and love. Therefore I believe that as Christians we are called to 
actively express this message in a public capacity, both in 
church and in our local communities." 

     Dean Ewing agrees, pointing out that "God also calls us to 
make a difference in our city and neighborhood.  This call is 
realized in the many parishes and institutions where our students 
have always served. But now, thanks to their initiative 
undertaken with prayerful determination, this ministry is 
happening in our midst."

--Brock is a second-year postulant from the Diocese of Alabama. 
This article is an edited version of one that first appeared in 
the Episcopal New Yorker.