St. Vincent de Paul | Louisville
January 2017
St. Jude Snapshot
Heroin Addiction and Alcoholism Are Common Among Residents in Search of Lasting Change Clients Are Grateful for Program’s Structure and Support Growth in one of our most in-demand programs is having the desired impact to treat more people. St. Jude Women’s Recovery Center, St. Vincent de Paul’s residential treatment program for clients suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, recently expanded occupancy from 33 beds to 50. The increased capacity was good news for counselors, social workers and people in the recovery community at large, who stress the need for quality programs like St. Jude, where women in need have access to effective treatment resources along with a structured, secure housing program on the SVDP campus. St. Jude’s treatment services are provided through a partnership with Seven Counties Services’ Jefferson Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center ( JADAC).
Women in treatment at St. Jude Women’s Recovery Center gather in the library for conversation. From left: Tracy, Brittany W., Leeah, Mary, Bree, and Pam Scott, Program Manager of St. Jude.
To understand who St. Jude’s clients are, where they’ve been, and how the program is making a difference in their lives, we asked St. Jude Program Manager Pam Scott to invite a few women to share their stories. In an informal group conversation before the holidays, they did just that. Here are excerpts:
What is your background? Tracy: Horticulture degree, B.S. in Communications and Cultural Diversity. Culinary courses. Lost children 10 years ago due to addiction. Leeah: Went to Sacred Heart Academy. Worked as a cosmetologist for 15 years. Husband and four daughters.
Why are you at St. Jude? Mary, 35, says she’s there for the “stability” the program provides, and “to stay clean and sober.” Tracy, 45, sought help for alcoholism and her “attitude.” Two other women, Brittany and Bree, both 26, acknowledge their heroin addiction as their reason for being at St. Jude, while Leeah, 36, states she is there, “for recovery and to be a sober mother.”
How is St. Jude helping you? Mary: “It’s keeping me sober.” Tracy: “It gives us the opportunity to be a family and me the opportunity to be productive.” Brittany: “I’m not worried all the time.” Leeah: “I’m learning how to have structure in my life again.” Bree: “It’s saving my life.” What would you like to share
about your recovery journey? Mary: “The program works.” Tracy: “St. Jude gives me a safe (no use) environment.” Brittany: “I’m extremely grateful for St. Jude and St. Vincent de Paul.” Leeah: “St. Jude is a great, safe place to give women the ability to learn life skills that will help us in our recovery so that we will be ready to life on life’s terms again.” To learn more about St. Jude Women’s Recovery Center, contact Pam Scott at 502-301-8694; pscott@svdplou.org. To make a financial donation in support of St. Jude’s operations, contact Angela Champion Sprowl, Director of Development, at 502-301-8682; asprowl@svplou.org.
Special Holiday Guests in OHK
Carleen Herde Takes the Helm of SVDP’s Board of Directors
In addition to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who made his annual, under-the-radar Thanksgiving Day visit (and shook hands with every single person in attendance), special guests attending the noon meal on Thanksgiving Day in our Open Hand Kitchen included a well-known Los Angeles actor with a very familiar face.
St. Vincent de Paul is starting 2017 with its first female board chair.
Branscombe Richmond, a Native American actor and stunt man who does voice-over work in Disney’s movie Moana, visited the OHK and learned more about our mission in a lengthy conversation with our Executive Director/CEO Ed Wnorowski. Richmond’s film and TV credits over the last 40 years include Magnum, P.I., Hawaii Five-O, Walker Texas Ranger, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Roadies, and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, to name just a few. He was in the Louisville area last fall to direct a movie for the Hallmark Channel. He called ahead to ask if he could join us to help out, and later explained in person that he was homeless at one point in his life.
Carleen Herde (pictured at right) had assumed leadership of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Council of Louisville, Inc., back at the beginning of our fiscal year last Oct. 1. She replaces Jim Carrico, who served as board chair from 2011 until 2016. An SVDP board member since 2013, Herde is a legal secretary with a degree from Jefferson Community College. She has been active as a volunteer and board member for many organizations, including the Ronald McDonald House and Meals on Wheels. A former co-chair for the Assumption High School capital campaign, Herde is also a former alumnae board member of Assumption. A Louisville native, she and her husband, Carl Herde, have three daughters: Amanda Herde Reasor, Megan Herde Crane, and Kelley Herde Kerger. Carrico joined SVDP’s board in 2005. He spent his career in the insurance business, from 1963 until 2009, when he retired as
Jim Carrico and Carleen Herde
managing director of the then-Louisville office of Wells Fargo Insurance Services. Carrico has served on the board of directors of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. and is a past chairman of the Kentucky Derby Festival as well as a past president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Kentucky. A graduate of St. Xavier High School, he earned an electrical engineering degree from Vanderbilt University. He and his wife of 51 years, Pat, have a daughter and three grandchildren.
In Memoriam Out of respect for their lives, we list here the names of the men and women, all St. Vincent de Paul clients or former clients in our various programs, who passed away in 2016. May they rest in peace.
Richmond (R) willingly posed for selfies and photos, including this one with Keith (at left), one of our OHK cooks.
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Hannah Beckham Robert Beamer Daniel Boone Richard Bonebreak Henry Bradshaw Howard Golson
Neal Griffin Neil Griffin James Holloway Patricia “Kay” Jamerson Les Johnson Daniel McKnight
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James Leskowsky Jessica MacDonald Megan Metcalf Larry James Sanders Patrick Soucosky Kevin Wheat
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Our After-School Kids Share in the Joy of Giving as They Box Care Packages for Kids Around The World Gabe and Olivia Feinn, a brother and sister team who are 16 and 12, respectively, hosted a Giving and Receiving Christmas Party last month for the children in our after-school program at the Family Success Center. More than 100 volunteers from Southeast Christian Church’s High School Ministry assisted in the longplanned initiative, which they called Operation Christmas Ripples, because the party’s theme was to share with the children the joy of giving as well as receiving. Gabe and “Liv,” who have been very active in Christian outreach and raised money to renovate a maternity hospital in the Congo, have been volunteering regularly at SVDP’s Family Success Center for more than a year. Last spring, Gabe and Liv gave a presentation to the children about another one of their projects, to build a well and bring clean water to a village in Niger. Upon hearing about the world water crisis, one child raised his hand to ask if, “We could just bring the villagers some of our water.” This desire to help touched the Feinns’ hearts and spurred their idea for a party in which the children at SVDP would have an opportunity to reach out to others in need and to share in the joy of giving. At the party, the children packed
Olivia Feinn(left) and her brother Gabe (right) hosting the Giving and Receiving Christmas Party for the children in our afterschool program at the Family Success Center.
shoeboxes with care items that were shipped to children worldwide through Operation Christmas Child. Since May, Gabe and Liv had been making cakes to generate donations for the cause. They had purchased shipping labels, which will notify each child at the Family Success Center when the Operation Christmas Child shoebox that they packed has been delivered to an indigent child somewhere in the world. A large, world map that Gabe and Liv brought to the FSC will allow our SVDP kids here in Louisville to pin their names on the corresponding map locales where their packages have been received.
Other activities included storybook time, cupcake decorating and picture-taking. The children also received goody bags filled with candy and other items. The Number One Team, Inc., is the name of Gabe and Olivia’s 501c3, which was established in 2013. The team has raised money to renovate a maternity hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo and to dig a well for a waterimpoverished village in Niger. We thank the Feinns and the rest of their team for sharing their meaningful outreach with the children in our Family Success Center!
SVDP Food Pantry News Welcome to Elly Henderson, a retired teacher and new volunteer in SVDP’s Food Pantry. She was recruited by pantry volunteer Chuck Peters, a friend and fellow alum from Waggener High School’s Class of 1963. SVDP’s Food Pantry provides free canned goods, frozen meat, and fresh produce to some of Louisville’s poorest people, helping feed an average of 400 households each Chuck Peters and Elly Henderson month. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. collected three full pallets of food for St. Vincent de Paul during its annual 2016 Veteran’s Day Food Drive last November. Thank you to all who donated and gave of their time and efforts to help out just in time for the holidays!
Thank you from Santa Shop In-Kind Donations
SVDP Board Members Greg Cornett (far left) and John Hanks (far right) flank other volunteers and staff behind donations of new clothing that were given away at last month’s Santa Shop. More than 1,500 children received Christmas presents thanks to our donors’ generosity.
Volunteers offer free giftwrapping for parents who were invited to select presents at our Santa Shop.
It wouldn’t be Santa Shop without smiling volunteers serving festive cookies, homemade treats and the perennial sherbert punch.
Our Mission Respecting the dignity of each person, St. Vincent de Paul Louisville offers hope and help to families and individuals in crisis, including those who are affected by poverty, homelessness, addiction, and mental illness, so that they may achieve more stable and fulfilling lives.
Abel Construction Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) Amazon Fulfillment Center Ancient Order of Hibernians Anonymous (multiple donors) Don and Markie Baxter Andrea Bellis Bowling Family Meghan Boyle Charah, Inc. DMLO Lester Dullin Pat Eckert Firstsource Solutions USA Gregory Frazier Don Fust GEM Engineering, Inc. Good Shepherd Church Doug and Claire Habeeb Jennifer Higdon Sherron Hoehler Honeywell Lisa Keenan Little Sisters of the Poor Makenzie’s Coat Closet Messiah Trinity Church Mercy High School David Meyer Laura and Jay Moore Naval Ordnance Reserve Notre Dame School Smith & Smith Attorneys St. Aloysius Pewee Valley St. Brigid Church St. Francis Xavier St. Gabriel Church and School St. Ignatius St. Luke Church St. Margaret Mary Church St. Patrick Church and School St. Paul Church St. Stephen School Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. VanZandt, Emrich and Carey Verizon (6 stores Louisville, Lexington) Dean and Becky Wilkinson Meghan Wnorowski
Monetary Donations
Margaret Buisson Isaacs & Isaacs Personal Injury Attorneys HMC Services Co. Holy Family Conference Kosair Charities William Nowak St. Aloysius Conference Alice and William Stewart Target (Stonybrook) Toni Sturtzel Rev. Jerry Timmel