One of the areas where COVID-19 disruption has been felt most keenly is in our volunteer program, which we suspended in mid-March until further notice. While a handful of volunteers have returned to help out in the kitchen, most are still on furlough, and we’re all – staff and guests alike – looking forward to […]
St. Francis House Helps to Coordinate the “Barrier Buster” Financial Housing Assistance
For people experiencing homelessness across the United States, COVID-19 hit hard. Sudden closures of the services people relied on, and limited access to basic needs created an additional barrier for those already scraping by. For the City of Boston and St. Francis House, the concern immediately turned to the health and safety of our guests. […]
Volunteer of the Month: Mike Fitzgerald
Over 3,000 individuals dedicate their time and talent to St. Francis House, this past year volunteering a total of 28,137 hours in our Resource Center, our clothing distribution programs, and the dining room serving nutritious meals. In an effort to shine a spotlight on the incredible compassion of our awesome volunteers, we’ve begun recognizing […]
June is PRIDE Month!
Since the day we opened 35 years ago, our promise has been and continues to be, we will never turn ANYONE away. All are always welcome at St Francis House. St. Francis House wishes our LGBTQIA+ community a happy Pride! […]
Black Lives Matter
To our community, St. Francis House stands in solidarity with our community of black and brown guests, staff, volunteers, donors, and partners. My heart aches for the families mourning the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. And like so many of you, I am angry. I am angry […]
Working during the era of COVID-19: Navigating the Virtual Job Fair
This blog is part of a series by the Workforce Development staff at St. Francis House. You are likely familiar with physical job fairs, as the Workforce Development Department at St. Francis House highly encourages all our participants to attend these events! Usually, a job fair entails multiple human resources representatives from targeted organizations( such […]
Helping our guests with their mental health issues in the time of COVID
At St. Francis House, mental health issues are something that we’ve always dealt with. We see depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders. We also see a significant number of people who have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder. Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic is making matters worse for our guests. And not surprisingly, our staff is […]
Mental Health Awareness Month: Serving our guests, pandemic or not.
Part 3 of our 3 part series for Mental Health Awareness Month. The mental health difficulties our homeless guests face have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Pandemic or not, the St. Francis House staff continue to offer critical mental health support to our guests, more ways than one. Typically, the St. Francis House Clinical and Recovery […]
When it comes to mental health, COVID-19 makes matters worse
Part 2 of our 3 part series for Mental Health Awareness Month The COVID-19 pandemic has been causing a lot of anxiety and stress for everyone, and that, of course, includes our guests, especially for those struggling with their mental health. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and with COVID-19 wreaking havoc on our routines, […]
Mental health: all tangled up with homelessness
Part 1 of our 3 part series for Mental Health Awareness Month With the COVID-19 pandemic taking a toll on all of us, taking care of our mental health is more important now than ever. Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of difficulty maintaining your mental health while experiencing homelessness, regardless of global emergency. People become […]
