CHARLOTTE — Homeless Relief Ministry, a grassroots ministry that provides furniture, housewares and decor items to families transitioning out of homelessness, completed its 440th move-in on April 17, furnishing an apartment for a single mom and her five children.
For the past 11 years, three Charlotte parishes – St. Matthew, St. Peter and St. Vincent de Paul – have collaborated to furnish one family’s dream at a time.
Furniture and housewares are primarily donated by parishioners or sometimes retailers like Costco and, when needed, purchased by the parishes. The ministry of more than 90 volunteers is committed to doing whatever it takes for their clients.
“I do this because they need it. We’ve got this crisis in this country as far as homelessness. This happened to them, as it could have happened to me,” St. Vincent de Paul parishioner and long-standing volunteer Nancy Kopfle said, as she plugged in a new coffee maker and showed off plastic children’s plates in a freshly stocked cabinet.
“This gives them dignity because now they will have their own belongings,” Kopfle said. “The point of all this is for them to have the tools to pick themselves back up. This makes their new place into a home. It is very moving.”
On move-in day, an HRM team typically meets early at St. Matthew’s warehouse in Wesley Chapel to load their moving truck with furniture and beds that match the client’s needs, while other members of the team load their cars with housewares and bedding that is stored in large closets at St. Vincent de Paul Church. The teams roll out and converge on their destination. There, they spend several hours moving in and arranging furniture, assembling beds and cribs, hanging pictures and shower curtains, plugging in lamps, and providing all the little details that create a cozy living environment.
Client Denise, whose last name is withheld to preserve her privacy, was introduced to the Homeless Relief Ministry by The Relatives, a local nonprofit that is one of many partner organizations that provide wrap-around services for clients.
For about seven months, Denise and her children were living in an unstable environment, moving from place to place, spending nights with relatives or at hotels.
She moved here from Georgia to get her life together, but the neighborhood she was barely able to afford was riddled with violence to the point where she fled in fear for her children’s safety.
“There were shootings and loud noises; people were outside all night,” she said. “It was just a bad situation.”
Her caseworker, Shanetta Black from The Relatives, works with 17 clients, helping to remove barriers so clients become financially stable enough to pay their rent and other bills. Yet, she notes this is not a homelessness problem but a housing problem.
“You have people who work two to three jobs but still stay outside because they don’t make three times their rent monthly (a common lease requirement), so they can’t afford to live,” she said.
With the average monthly rent in Charlotte at $1,600 or more, according to RentCafe.com, the scenario is not uncommon, so Homeless Relief Ministry works to ensure that once those in need find a safe place to live, they can move into a comfortable, fully furnished home.
“I like going to ground zero and helping from there,” said volunteer and St. Matthew parishioner Bill LeMay. He lives by Mother Teresa’s philosophy by finding his own Calcutta – a place where people need help – right in Mecklenburg County.
“Like Sister Teresa said, the people that need help are here, so that is where I love and help them.”
— Lisa M. Geraci