911 and more.....

Sometimes we have to call the police or an ambulance at Hope House, and it occurs to me that those who work at the church or school (or those who attend daily Mass or school), may wonder what is going on, and why do we need the police here? I can tell you that I can probably count on my two hands the number of times we have had to call, so it is not that frequent an occurrence.

One of our first calls was for an ambulance—we had a gentleman with a seizure disorder who seized, then fell and hit his head on the desk on the way down. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was awake and talking, but they took him to the hospital for observation anyway.

“Maria” was very pregnant and had not eaten yet that day—she was short on food. She fainted while getting the hygiene items and food she so desperately needed. When the ambulance arrived, they found her awake and eating crackers and drinking juice provided by our staff.

“Tammy” was hit by a falling bookshelf that someone had leaned on. That bookshelf is now screwed into the wall! She had a bump on her head, but refused to go to the emergency room and continued shopping!

We have had several instances of clients accusing other clients of stealing from them, some true, some not. One of our elderly clients was robbed of her rent money when it fell out of her pocket—this was witnessed by several clients, and the thief was reported immediately. The police were able to locate the thief and get the money back. In another instance, a mentally ill homeless man was sure that someone was attempting to steal his phone and we called the police to help. They were able to clear it all up for him.

By far the most upsetting calls for me personally are those times when we have someone who is being loud

and verbally abusive. I always plead with them to calm down, stop yelling, and “don’t make me call the police”! This is a level of stress they don’t need in their lives. However, the safety of our staff and clients, the comfort and safety of the school and church inhabitants always comes first, so we have had to call the police perhaps 3-4 times for this reason.

Please understand that these few calls took place over 15 years! 99.9% of the time, Hope House is a very calm and happy place, full of children, laughter and joy. Sitting in my office writing this blog, I hear two women talking about the name brand clothing they had found on the racks, two children playing cars on the floor, and a couple of homeless men planning a trip to Maple Alley Inn together.

This is Hope House—a safe place, a community within a community and a wonderful and shining example of our faith.