September 25, 2009
Homeless couple found shelter and hope at St. Vincent de Paul
Aubrey and Tommy Fisher pose for a photograph in a motel room provided by the St. Vincent de Paul Society conferences at St. Benedict Cathedral and St. Anthony Church, both in Evansville. The couple is hoping for a permanent, affordable home in the area. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Tommy and Aubrey came to Evansville by mistake. But there is no mistaking the loving care they have received from the St. Vincent de Paul Society and other agencies that have come to their assistance.
Tommy is 23. Aubrey is 21, and five months pregnant.
Tommy left his home in Wisconsin when he was 17. “My mom and me just could not agree,” he said, offering no further explanation.
Aubrey had just turned 19 when she left her home in Florida. “I needed to get away,” she said with conviction enough to convince a reporter that no more details would be revealed.
They met in Montana, and seemed to think there was nothing really so very unusual about their travels, first alone, and then together. No judgments. No complaints. No eagerness to blame someone else.
But with a baby on the way, life has changed.
“We’re just really hoping to find someplace to live,” said Tommy. “I never had a place of my own,” he said, glancing first to the reporter and then to Aubrey. “You didn’t either, did you?” he said to her. She shook her head, no.
Some of the details came out in a conversation, which was held at the motel room where they were staying temporarily, with the help of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Benedict Cathedral and St. Anthony Church, both in Evansville. Among the participants in that conversation were Tim Nalin, a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Benedict, and Don Burton from the conference at St. Anthony.
Nalin and Burton were convinced that there were no accidental elements to the couple’s story. God brought them here to us, they agreed, not an ounce of doubt between the two of them.
The conversation moved slowly from one thing to another, how Tommy had been homeless and on the road for six years, and how it must have been frightening for Aubrey, a young woman alone, to be on the road, a suggestion Aubrey rejected.
“No, not really,” she said firmly. “You run into a lot more people traveling than you think,” she said. “It was not so bad,” she paused. “And I had Sasha with me.”
That is Aubrey’s dog, Sasha. She and Tommy and Sasha had caught a freight train in Nashville. They intended to go to Louisville, but either they made a mistake or the freight car was switched, “something happened,” Tommy said, and they came instead to Evansville.
They found out that meals and a daytime place for a shower were available at the United Caring Center. At Aurora they received some care and some guidance and more than that.
“I didn’t even have an ID or anything,” Aubrey said. “Aurora helped me get that.” And with legal identification came food stamps, Medicaid and access to a doctor to provide pre-natal care for the baby.
Aurora also provided a voucher for food to be obtained at the St.Vincent de Paul food pantry – and that’s where the couple met Nalin, the store manager.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Nalin said. Then he found out what a sad place it was where the young couple had taken shelter at the time, an abandoned house on Iowa Street in Evansville.
“Nobody should have to do that,” he said — and then Nalin did what many people would find unthinkable: He invited the couple to live in the fixed-up garage at his own home until something better could be arranged.
Something better temporarily was the motel room, and a temporary job at the Association for the Blind for Tommy, and the hope that an apartment would be available that the couple could afford.
Realistically, “we don’t know what’s next,” Nalin said.
A caseworker from Aurora is helping the couple. The St. Vincent de Paul conferences are helping, and the hope is that the couple, with the help of others and their own determination —will get on their feet and make a stable life for themselves and their baby.
“It’s a girl,” Tommy said. Aubry smiled.
The story of Tommy and Aubrey may be unusual, but unusual is typical for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Of all the helping and caring agencies, St. Vincent de Paul may be the only one that involves lay people going into people’s homes, according to Deacon Jim Flynn, a retired attorney who is associated with the conference at St. Benedict, and
Carolyn Harmon, a long time conference leader at St. John the Baptist in Newburgh.
Volunteers from a conference go into a home to assess what is needed and do what they can, within the limited budget resources of the council. Often, conferences help each other to provide assistance.
Within the Diocese of Evansville, there is a three-layer structure, but each local conference acts with a great deal of autonomy. Tom Peter is the president of the diocesan council. Within the council are four districts, one each in Evansville, Washington, Jasper and Vincennes. Each of the districts has a store and a food pantry.
Within the Evansville District are 26 conferences, each within parish boundaries, all in Vand-erburgh, Posey, Warrick and Gibson counties. The Jasper District has 13 conferences; the Washington District, three, and the Vincennes District, three.
Each conference accepts contributions from members of the parish, either through envelope offerings or other means. Each conference is charged with serving the poor within the parish boundaries. Some parishes have a larger share of people in need than others, but the conferences make sure that resources are shared.
When a St. Vincent de Paul team from a conference makes a home visit and assesses the needs of the people there, the team may often decide to issue a voucher for clothing or home appliances or furnishings.
If, for example, a family moves into an apartment that is supposed to be furnished, but finds that the refrigerator does not work, a St. Vincent de Paul team may decide to issue a voucher for the family to go to the St. Vincent de Paul store —and if a refrigerator is available (because someone has donated one), the family will receive it at no cost. The bill will be sent to the St. Vincent de Paul conference that issued the voucher. The conference is billed for furniture and appliances, but not for clothing.
In 2008, the St. Vincent de Paul Society became a tax-exempt organization separate from the Catholic Church, while continuing to advance the mission of the Church by reaching out to people in need. Contributions are tax deductible in the same way as they were before.
Donations of working appliances, furniture, clothing and household goods and financial contributions make the work of St. Vincent de Paul possible.
God’s providence does not happen by accident.