The Board of Directors of St. Vincent New Beginnings endorsed the plan to start a fundraising campaign in 2024 to fund Phase I of our transitional housing program.  

Phase I

Our immediate goal is to open a home near downtown Delaware with five beds to address the urgent need to help homeless single men from Delaware County being released from jail, prison or treatment facilities.  We will provide a transitional housing program built on integrity, dignity, support and mutual respect.  It will be a safe place for these men to continue on their journey to becoming restored citizens.   Our staff and volunteers will serve as mentors and will work with collaborating agencies and groups to provide the resources and services so these men can continue to make positive changes in their lives as they transition back into the community.

Men will have access to social services, the legal system and health services.  Staff and volunteers will assist the men in developing job skills, relationship skills, and basic life skills.  We will help them find jobs, save their money and move into permanent housing.  Access to transportation or transit passes will be provided so those staying at the house can get to and from job interviews, medical appointments and meetings with local agencies.  

We need your help to raise $250,000 in cash and $150,000 in pledges by May 31, 2025. We have raised over $210,000 in cash (84% of our goal) and $21,000 in pledges (14% of our goal) to date.  

Phase II

We know that there is a greater need than a program that is limited to working with 5 men at a time.  We anticipate the house will be full a few weeks after opening.

To meet the need, we plan to begin a capital campaign to raise funds to build a dedicated facility for up to 16 men near the Delaware County Jail.  Our plan is to begin this campaign shortly after we have opened the 5-bed home.  Our goal is to raise $2,000,000 for this facility.

Can we count on your support to help us meet our Phase I goal?  

Thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to open a transitional housing program for men in Delaware County.  We have launched a campaign to raise $250,000 by May 2025. Our immediate goal is to open a home with five beds to help single men in Delaware County who have no place to go. We are working to provide transitional housing to men reentering our community from jail, prison or treatment facilities so we can say “yes, we have a place in Delaware” when men call for help. Opening this home will enable us to meet this urgent need, gain valuable experience and establish vital community partnerships. As of October 1, we have raised over 60% of our goal!

A man who had been released from Delaware County Jail needed a place to stay and called the St. John Neumann Jail Ministry. He was living in his car and requested help.  Since there was no place for him in Delaware, the Jail Ministry attempted to find him room at a shelter in Newark or Marion.  He chose not to go out of town, and the Jail Ministry lost touch with him.  Most of the men in the jail ministry program have nowhere to go when they are released.  Many will choose to go back to the environment and the people that led to their arrest; some will ask to stay with acquaintances; and others will choose to live outdoors where they are not protected from the elements and may be harassed, assaulted or robbed.

As a supporter of our efforts, we wanted to provide an update on our progress. You will notice our name change to St. Vincent New Beginnings from Men’s Shelter of Delaware County.  This name better encompasses the “new beginning” we are providing for men who have nowhere to turn during their time of need. In addition to providing a safe place to live and meals, we will provide support services to help these men make positive changes in their lives.

We need your help to reach our goal.  Please consider joining us in the following ways:

• Provide a financial gift to the campaign. Any Donation will help us provide a safe place to live, groceries, access to social services, job skills and basic life skills.
  • A gift of $1,000 covers the basic living expenses of one resident for one month
  • A gift of $500 covers job placement services for one resident
  • A gift of $250 covers groceries for one week
  • A gift of $100 covers laundry costs for one month

• Consider joining our Board of Directors or becoming a volunteer.
• Continue praying for the successful opening.

Thank you for your consideration,

Board of Directors, St. Vincent New Beginnings

Elizabeth Curtis, Jeff Adair, Greig Douglas, John Getha, Phil Hanus, Nancy Thatcher

The SJN SVDP Jail Ministry was founded in 2015 initially as a Bible Study with about 8 volunteers.  The ministry currently has growing list of 30 volunteers that go into the Delaware County Jail (DCJ). We have pastor support from both SJN and Delaware St. Mary’s to the jail.

Men’s Bible Study is every Tuesday evening.  The group sizes will vary by program. Bible study is rotation by dorm to be able to spread out the opportunity for all inmates.   Each minister determines their own study.  Some ministers share the last Sunday’s readings; some share that day’s readings. We have special material available ranging from brief catechisms, how to pray the rosary, inspirational readings from Church Fathers, to Liturgy of the Hours.  We are allowed to leave rosaries for inmate’s personal property. We have supported book drives for the jail library. We regularly provide Bibles, official Catechisms (English/Spanish).  We try to accommodate some special requests for literature or for example reading glasses.    The ministry will bring winter coats and additional clothing to the jail for inmates released during bad weather.  We provide an invitation to Mass at St. John Neumann by providing the weekly Mass schedule, and contact information for the SVDP Help Line and the parish office.

Men and Women’s Navigation is every Saturday morning. The ministry provides a tool box with subject resources. For Navigation, the majority of the inmates are signed up for the sessions through LINC (Lives in Need of Connection). The inmates that take part in LINC have an earnest desire to seek guidance for their release. We discuss six topics on a weekly rotation: Jobs, Relationships, Mental Health, Anger Management, Addiction and Life Skills.  The Navigation program does a Needs Assessment for each inmate. We ask if they have sufficient clothing, employment, if they need treatment of any kind, or shelter upon release.  A good percentage of the inmates have no place to go.   From our April 2 assessment, 6 of 10 male Navigation inmates said that they need shelter when released.  This ratio is about average for our 60-day inmate rotation.

We have researched shelters for returning citizens, we found that there were not many places where we can send the men.  Then, DCJ called one Saturday afternoon saying, we have a returning citizen that was being housed at a motel, but he has to leave.   Could we help?  We had learned of St. Vincent Haven (SVH) in Newark, they told us there was room.  We convinced the client to give it a try and drove him for an intake.  He was able to stay for about 3 months and he got back on his feet.   The environment and positive results of SVH left an important impression.

We’ve since had some luck with SVH, but besides bed availability, many of our clients still need to come back to Delaware for reentry services or requirements.   

Because of the need in the community, the Jail Ministry worked with others on a plan to open a Men’s Shelter.   The Men’s Shelter of Delaware County, Inc. has non-profit designation, a Board of Directors, a business plan, fundraising plan, a grant writer, a business database, policies and procedures for operating a shelter, a floor plan and set of requirements for a building, relationships within our community and a great many details explored and prioritized.

We have the mindset that reentry needs aftercare.  Aftercare is successful with accompaniment.  The returning citizen has to be able to live within the community to take advantage of the benefits that are provided.  Having a shelter in the best possible location will fundamentally enhance our community of returning citizens.

Please continue to watch this site for updates on the status of our plans to build a new men's shelter in Delaware. Your support will be key to our ability to meet this need.

St. Vincent began his ministry in Paris during the tumultuous years of the early 17^th century.  He worked directly with the poor, orphans, prisoners, and anyone who needed a hand up.  But he also had organizational skills that allowed him to involve others to expand his charitable works.

This came about first and foremost because of his love for the poor in whom he saw Jesus and his fervent desire to continue His ministry described in the gospels. And, because Vincent was well educated and connected, he worked with wealthy families and even became spiritual advisor to Queen Anne of France in 1643.  He learned how to diplomatically negotiate the world of politics and the nobility. His mastery of the spoken and written word produced stirring sermons and letters.   

Frédéric Ozanam’s compassion and extraordinary work for the poor of Paris began in 1831 with a challenge: "What is your church doing now for the poor of Paris? Show us your works and we will believe you!" The eighteen-year-old young man and his friends had founded a Catholic study group in the city, and it was during a group meeting that this voice of dissent was raised.

Two years later, having secured sponsorship and Catholic spiritual leadership, Frédéric and a group of seven friends founded the “Conference for Charity” in Paris. They began to serve the poor by bringing material assistance to those living in poverty. Meanwhile, a like-minded young religious woman, Sister Rosalie Rendu, became acquainted with Frédéric and helped him and his friends to do good works, which is how the St Vincent de Paul Society started. In very little time, St Vincent de Paul spread throughout France and a little bit later jumped the Channel in sprang up in Great Britain. Before long SVdP grew to 15,000 members at Frédéric’s death in 1840.

We asked Angela to share her story about the difficulties she faced as a returning citizen and the need she had for a place to stay and the support a shelter can provide.

My name is Angela. I am in recovery. I am a mother of 3. I have two daughters.  When 16 years old, I lost my first-born, a son. to a medical condition while he was infant. When I was 13 years old, I started using with my older sisters. I gave birth to my oldest daughter shortly after graduating high school. When my infant passed away, I dealt with a lot of bullying and ended up in Juvenile Detention for fighting. On the day I got out of juvenile detention for a 28 day sentence my brother was killed. Soon after my cousin was killed in an alcohol related car accident.  One can start to see that by 18 years old there was already a lot of inner turmoil in my life.

I have been convicted for minor misdemeanors, felony (receiving stolen property) and forgery. My first time being incarcerated as an adult was in January, 2013. I was indicted in December, 2012, for felony charges and had pending court for a misdemeanor theft charge. I was 24 years old, addicted to crack cocaine and opiates. I did not receive re-entry services or aftercare from my incarcerations.

When I went to court, I begged for help with my addiction. I knew I was powerless on my own. Instead, I served 30 days and was out. The court could not help.  The one option I was recommended was to attend outpatient services.  After 90 days, without accompaniment, I relapsed, and return to jail for failing drug testing.  Another 45 days. 

The St. Vincent de Paul Mens Shelter of Delaware County will purchase or rent a home or building in the city of Delaware, Ohio. The shelter aims to initially accommodate 5 men being released from jail, prison or treatment facilities and with nowhere to go upon release for emergency or short-term stays.

Men leaving incarceration will be referred to the facility after having been screened by the jail facility.

There will be written policies and procedures governing staff and clients that will be reviewed upon the arrival of a client. Men will be required to do household chores, follow requirements of case managers, apply for jobs and follow the rules of the facility.

Living necessities will be provided for clients. In-house services planned include meals, toiletries, laundry, showers, a mailing address, transportation, access to phone and voice mail and a locked area for prescription drugs and personal items.

Shelter alone is not the sole aim. Plans are to provide mentorship to help the individual to find employment and permanent shelter. The shelter will provide training in life skills and self-reliance by skilled volunteer mentors and community service agencies. SVdP Mens Shelter recognizes the value that the community plays in helping to reshape the lives of those in need and has developed relationships with individuals and community organizations throughout Delaware County to assure our residents will receive the care and services they need during and after their stay in the shelter. 

As you saw in our last blog post by Phil Hanus, the Men’s Shelter of Delaware County received a Systemic Change grant from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s National Office. "Just what is systemic change," you ask? I am going to attempt to explain just what that means to you.

The Vincentian Family of North America has defined Systemic Change as:

Systemic Change among those living in poverty aims beyond providing food, clothing, shelter and alleviating immediate needs. It enables people themselves to engage in the identification of the root causes of their poverty and to create strategies, including advocacy, to change those structures which keep them in poverty. Systemic Change requires transforming attitudes.

Or – to put it more simply – “systemic change happens when change pervades all or most of the system leading to change in the system itself.” Well, my 3^rd grade vocabulary teacher would not like this definition because the definition used the word being defined.

We are proud to announce that the National Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States has awarded us a grant of $10,000 dollars through its Systemic Change Grant Program.   

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is well known in communities for their direct work in alleviating immediate needs such as food and rent.  In fact, in 2019, St. Mary’s parish in Delaware gave a total of $78,066 that was spent on rent and utility assistance as well as car repair, medical expenses, food, and funeral expenses.

It is not as widely known however, that programs that target root causes of poverty are also a core value of the Society.  The awards committee felt that we had a compelling program with a long-range vision to move men back into the community by offering a safe place to live in conjunction with programs that helped break the poverty cycle and restore them as self-sufficient members of the community.  It was also important to them that we were collaborating with  other community-based organizations with similar aims.

These funds will be a big help in getting this program firmly launched. We are very grateful for their support. 

      In June of 2015, the St. John Neumann (SJN) chapter of SVdP started a ministry at the Delaware County Jail (DCJ).  Many of the inmates we serve are first time offenders; others are dealing with addiction issues. Both situations are vital for faith-based initiatives.  We quickly learned the depth of need that inmates required from our spiritual resources.

     Our main message to the inmates is to remember two basic things:

             1. We are all no more than saved sinners.  

             2. No one needs to be defined by their time in jail. 

     This starting point is our communion with the inmates.