November 18, 2011
Former St. Anthony convent houses homeless women
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
There’s a touch of irony, and a certain amount of satisfaction. The former convent at St. Anthony Church in Evansville is now providing shelter for homeless women.
The top floor of the convent building is being leased by United Caring Shelters. It provides “a safe and secure place for single women at night,” said the director of the shelters, Kimron Reising.
“To my knowledge we are going to be the only emergency night shelter for single women in the Evansville area,” Reising said. The shelter is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., but women will be able to leave their personal belongings there. They can use the days to get medical attention, look for employment “or do whatever they need to do to get their lives back in order,” Reising said.
Meals, laundry and mail facilities are available during the daytime at the main shelter, which is reserved for men overnight. The two locations are about a half-mile apart.
The need for the new shelter was discovered last year. Uni-ted Caring Shelters has a cold weather emergency plan, allow-ing people to come in out of life-threatening weather if the temperature will be below freezing for more than three hours. Reising said 19 women sought shelter in such an emergency situation last year. The women said they usually slept in cars or abandoned buildings because there was no other place available.
A recent survey found just 26 available beds, scattered at three locations in the area, for single women who do not have children with them and who were not fleeing from domestic abuse. Shelter facilities in the area were turning away 20 to 40 women every week.
Funding for the new shelter is coming in part from the Welborn Baptist Foundation which awarded United Caring Shelters with a $25,000 matching grant. Some funds were also provided by the Pigeon Town-ship trustees, Reising said. In addition to the matching funds needed for the grant, more contributions are being sought.