Leading for Health Equity
St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities: Supporting Women Always
St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities Providing Help. Creating Hope. Searving All. by Mary Barry, MD
St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities is an agency of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, formed in New Albany, Indiana from the 2004 merger of the St. Elizabeth Regional Maternity Home and the local Catholic Charities. Its mission is to serve women who arrive in need of emergency shelter and maternity support, transitioning them from dependents with urgent immediate needs, to mothers and families who can live on their own. Initially, Catholic Charities helped people with developmental delays to live semi-independently, and the maternity home welcomed and cared for unwed mothers and those in need of an immediate / emergency safe place.
After the merger, the group found a new home on the site of the former Holy Trinity Parish, adding housing units, using the rectory for administration and building the Holy Trinity Heritage Park. They established Marie’ s Blessings, which supplies all manner of diapers and bags, strollers, cribs, baby and toddler clothes, etc. to women in need. They are the emergency home for victims of violence and act as a certified adoption agency, helping new families come together. Women on their own with small children may stay up to 90 days while they get help figuring out the next steps, including employment and stable housing.
Women who have been victims of violence work closely with a case manager through the transition from shell-shocked to a more independent, safer home, all with a trauma-informed perspective.
Their Family Stability Program supports women who are at least 18 years old, who may arrive alone, or alone and pregnant, or as homeless parents. They can live in mini apartments for up to 100 days while working on vocational / educational goals. They receive mental health counseling and can learn life and parenting skills.
Marie’ s Blessings is open twice weekly to accept donations, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. Women and families need to access free supplies of diapers, car seats, feminine hygiene products, kids’ clothes sizes 5-7, blankies, baby beds and booster seats, etc. The Blessings staffers always need formula, cases of diapers of all sizes, toys safe for small ones, menstrual products, Kleenex, wipes and 13-gallon trash bags. For donation questions one may contact jfloyd @ stecharities. org. Especially for big items like strollers, car seats or beds, please check in with them first.
My Loretto High School alumnae group toured there some weeks ago. It was a very cheerful place. There were communal kitchens with strict washing-up rules, the requisite string of little kids being led out to play, bright quilt hangings and bursts of laughter coming from a couple of meeting rooms. The vibe we all picked up was,“ We will help you all we can, but as we go along, you gotta do the work of getting better / more independent too.”
If anyone needs general information, that website is www. StECharities. org; if you need to give a help-me number to a woman in need, that number is 812-949-7305.
Dr. Barry is an internist and Associate Professor of Medicine( Gratis Faculty) at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, currently retired and mulling her next moves.
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