In a mid-summer issue of The Record, reporter Ruby Thomas told the story of Day Spring, the local organization that has provided help and a home for men and women with developmental issues.
Day Spring was founded in 1994, and four residential buildings were constructed on 13 acres of land donated to it by the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Day Spring is a remarkable success story, one of many in our community that have at their heart groups or organizations aided directly or indirectly by the archdiocese. The archdiocese helped Day Spring come to life, and the result has been tangible lifestyle improvements for the women and men who benefit from its residential services.
The people of the archdiocese should be proud of its assistance to Day Spring. And they should take pride in knowing there are a number of groups, facilities and services in the area that benefit from archdiocesan benevolence and guidance.
One example is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Since the creation of its first parish conference at the Cathedral of the Assumption in 1853, the society has reached its arms of assistance into nearly every community in the Archdiocese of Louisville. And people in need have come to depend upon the munificence of both.
People such as a West Broadway-area resident who said his friends call him “Stick.”
Stick shows up at around 10 a.m. several days a week at St. Augustine Church near 13th and Broadway. The parish offers a daily free lunch program with the help of the St. Vincent de Paul conference at Holy Trinity Church. Parishioners who volunteer with the conference produce the lunches that are distributed at St. Augustine.
Lunches that people such as Stick have come to depend upon.
There are times, Stick said, when that lunch — a sandwich, a piece of fruit, some chips and often a brownie or cookie — is the only meal he has all day. “I show up early, just to make sure I get one,” he said recently.
The lunches provided by this one conference — there are 26 others throughout the archdiocese — are a microcosm in the macrocosm of services the society provides.
And those services are increasingly needed, according to Tony Nochim, communications and public relations coordinator for the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
“The need is definitely growing,” he noted. “It doesn’t seem to be easing or slowing down at all.”
The most recent analysis of the work done by the society is revealing, though it covers only the 2022-2023 fiscal year. At that time the society was providing housing to nearly 1,300 people at its on-campus facilities in the Shelby Park area, or at its scattered-site housing locations. It also served on average 331 people each day at its Open Hand Kitchen.
The society serves the homeless at Ozanam Inn Men’s Shelter, the only shelter in the city that provides around-the-clock access to its 50 beds and 10 private rooms. There’s also the Veterans Transitional Housing Program, which provides 20 beds in the basement of Ozanam Inn; the Domestic Violence Transitional Housing and Rapid Rehousing Program for people fleeing domestic violence.
Homeless families can find shelter at the society’s East and West Family Apartments. Those with mental difficulties can turn to Tranquil House Apartments, and Waypoint House has 24 units for homeless veterans, both male and female.
There are other services provided, too — food pantries, the Family Success Center, after-school programs, summer camps, thrift stores and on and on. It’s all financed by donations from businesses and individuals, government grants and without direct affiliation with the Archdiocese of Louisville.
But the archdiocese and the society stand shoulder to shoulder to help those who need it the most.
That’s something to be proud of.
And its something to remember when the time comes to contribute our personal resources — or our time — to do the work of God.
GLENN RUTHERFORD
Record Editor Emeritus
