Habitat for Humanity:
St. Theresa Place By Sr. Jane Michele McClure, OSB ‘67
Habitat for Humanity of Evansville broke ground August 10, 2020 on St. Theresa Place, a 14-home, single-family subdivision which will be built on the city’s north side in the Diamond-Stringtown Neighborhood. The new subdivision will be located on the site of the former St. Theresa Catholic Parish, which for 70 years served generations of Catholics who worshipped at the church and educated their children at the parish school. “It will be great to see new families in the neighborhood, using the Stringtown Library, walking to an Otters game, having a cookout in Garvin Park and swimming at the Deaconess Aquatic Center,” said Mayor Lloyd Winnecke in remarks preceding the blessing of the property by Bishop Joseph Siegel of the Diocese of Evansville. After the church and school buildings were razed in early 2019, the west side of the property — bounded by Stringtown, Herndon, Wedeking and Evans — became home to the new headquarters of Catholic Charities, the social service ministry of the Catholic diocese. The new Catholic Charities building is now occupied and a formal blessing and dedication is scheduled for September 15. 24
When two anonymous donors stepped forward to fund the purchase of the property’s east side and the costs of additional infrastructure, Habitat was ready to build the new subdivision. “Habitat can have more of an impact when we build in concentration, with multiple new homes in close physical proximity,” said Beth Folz, Habitat’s executive director. “When the opportunity arose to build on property which is essentially holy ground, blessed by many decades of the faithful presence of a worshipping community, we were eager to pursue it. We had worked closely with Catholic Charities in the past, especially through their Neighbor to Neighbor and Handy Helpers programs, and look forward to even closer collaboration as we work together to help working families with skin in the game become self-sufficient.” In early 2020 a St. Theresa Place Advisory Council began to meet to hear more about the project and to give input as the idea of a subdivision on the site of former church property progressed. The Council, composed of 34 former St. Theresa parishioners and graduates, community leaders and neighborhood
