Last Monday I wrote about FISH, Inc., a social services organization in Williamsburg that provides food, clothing, and household items for people in need. Today I’m going to write about Williamsburg House of Mercy, which has a similar but expanded mission.
Here’s what the organization’s website says about its history:
On December 8, 2015, Pope Francis declared a Holy Year of Mercy, and called on the faithful to live this year in the light of the Lord’s words: ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.’ In honor of the Holy Year of Mercy, the Saint Bede Outreach Center was renamed the Williamsburg House of Mercy and incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation.
In the 1960’s, Sister Berenice Eltz of the Sisters of Mercy left teaching at Walsingham Academy [in Williamsburg] and entered into social ministry at Saint Bede Catholic Church. Often called the “Mother Teresa of Williamsburg,” Sister Berenice touched the lives of countless souls in the Williamsburg community. Saint Bede’s social ministries have seen many faces and changes over the years, but Sister Berenice’s legacy of mercy and service to the poor remains.
Williamsburg House of Mercy is our area’s only care center for the homeless. Dedicated and trained staff and volunteers work daily to meet the needs of the homeless and poor in our community through financial assistance, permanent housing assistance, access to medical care and mental health services, food, transportation, and so much more.
Centrally located in downtown Williamsburg, our proximity to area transportation makes us uniquely accessible to the unsheltered homeless in the community. As Williamsburg House of Mercy became known throughout the homeless community as a safe and welcoming place to receive assistance, we began to see a steady increase in the number of homeless men, women, and families in need of a warm meal, a place to shower, and a place of respite.
We now have the unique opportunity to engage the area homeless in targeted way to provide them with supportive services, access to medical and mental health services, access to computers and jobs, and assistance with housing. Once housed, they are case managed by our Mercy Housing Office until they achieve stability.
House of Mercy offers a wide range of services: (All of this information is from the group’s website, https://williamsburghouseofmercy.org).
Mercy Housing: Rapid Rehousing is designed to assist homeless individuals and families who are currently living outside, in vehicles, or in local shelters. The purpose is to help families and individuals quickly exit homelessness with both housing identification and financial assistance, and to help them achieve long-term housing stability.
Homeless Coordination of Care: This is the starting point for anyone who is homeless and in need of shelter, case management, and supportive services. The ultimate goal of our homeless services program is to help clients achieve self-sufficiency and obtain permanent housing. When a client presents as homeless or comes to the Harbor for the first time they meet with a House of Mercy client advocate to complete the intake process. The interview includes assessment questions to determine if additional services, such as healthcare, mental health services, and substance use treatment are desired. Clients also receive information on the various available housing services as well as regional shelter programs.
Harbor Day Center for the Homeless: In October of 2015, Williamsburg House of Mercy partnered with the Greater Williamsburg Outreach Mission (GWOM) to create the Harbor Day Shelter for the Homeless. The GWOM member churches continue to volunteer each month, breathing life into this ministry of extreme hospitality for those in need of a kind word, a place to feel at home, and a warm meal. Services Provided at the Harbor include the following:
Safe, supportive and comfortable environment with shelter from cold or heat in a place of daytime respite
Storage bins for personal items
Computer access and employment services
Mail Services
A convenient, central place to meet
Food and meals, including a warm breakfast and lunch
Emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, and eligibility screening for other suitable housing programs
Medical and mental health co-pay and prescription assistance, as well as laundry cards, bus tickets, food, job assistance, and financial counseling
Referral to community services (additional food pantry resources, clothing, and eligibility determination for various social services)
Showers and fresh hygiene supplies, towels, and undergarments
Access to books and magazines as well as phone and flashlight charging stations
I think this is a vital service. Most homeless shelters provide a safe place to sleep but require people to leave in the morning. Where do these people go during the day? Sometimes to bus or train stations or other public spaces. Ask a librarian, and you’ll find that many of them spend their days in the library — generally with the librarian’s blessing, because that’s who librarians are.
Grace Haven Family Shelter: Grace Haven Family Shelter is an emergency shelter serving families experiencing homelessness. Our mission is driven by the belief that every person should have comfort, a safe place to live, and access to amenities normally found in a loving home. In January 2018, Williamsburg House of Mercy and the Greater Williamsburg Outreach Mission (GWOM) agreed to partner on Grace Haven Family Shelter. GWOM provides the location, and Williamsburg House of Mercy provides the case management, programming, and rehousing and stabilization of the families utilizing the shelter. Grace Haven Family Shelter seeks to restore families to dignity and self-sufficiency, as well as to provide a safe place to live while families gain stability. The staff in the Mercy Housing office, along with trained volunteers, work with families to help them connect with community services, apply for jobs, and develop specific skills to establish a sustainable future. Families are identified for shelter services by referrals from partner agencies within our community. Once accepted, families will complete the intake process with a Mercy Housing Case Manager. The process to begin rapidly rehousing the family begins on day one.
Community Soup Kitchen: Healthy and nutrient-packed meals are so important when many of our clients are the working poor. Without the opportunity to eat well, performance at work, at school, and in the home suffers. Our daily noontime soup kitchen will be open to the entire community, as an opportunity to refresh and refuel for the rest of the day. By providing meals with protein and fresh ingredients, we remove the stumbling block of hunger and stress of food insecurity for one-third of the work week—a game-changer for many of our families! The Community Soup Kitchen serves a noontime to-go meal Monday through Friday from noon-1pm.
Food Security
Mobile Food Pantry is a large-scale fresh food distribution that includes USDA and is a partnership with the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. We distribute USDA food once a week on Wednesdays on our drive-thru food pantry line. Call to pre-register at 757-253-0664.
Shelf-Stable Food Pantry is a great way for families to help their dollars go further. We never want a family to have to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table. The drive-thru food pantry is open Wednesday-Thursday from 10 am to 1 pm. No pre-registration is required.
New Journey Re-entry Services Ex-offenders returning from jail often face a difficult transition back into the community. Re-entry services to ex-offenders returning to the community have been found to reduce recidivism, reduce crime, and save taxpayer dollars. These individuals face particular challenges related to the job search, such as attaining photo identification, short-term emergency shelter, and securing adequate housing. Williamsburg House of Mercy staff coordinates with Colonial Community Corrections, District 34 Probation and Parole, and the mentors at Williamsburg Walk the Talk to begin assessing inmates for services pre-release. Upon release, Williamsburg House of Mercy assists returning citizens with:
Emergency food, clothing, and shelter
Preparing for employment
Employment referrals
Housing assessment and rehousing
Medical and mental health referrals
On-going supportive services
Cases should be coordinated pre-release via email to both the Director and Mercy Housing Coordinator. Case manager assignment will be made after initial intake.
Hope Pregnancy Services: Our Hope Pregnancy Services offer free, caring, and confidential pregnancy counseling services for young women and their partners. We are a pro-life pregnancy center committed to supporting young women to choose life through:
Pregnancy testing
Counseling
Early Ultrasound referral
Prenatal care referral
Adoption referral and counseling
Post-abortive healing counseling
Maternity Clothing, Diapers, Baby Gear, other material assistance as needed
Healthy Families: Williamsburg House of Mercy is committed to helping strengthen young families in the Historic Triangle by providing those items that make it easier for families to stretch their budgets each month. New mothers and those approaching delivery may receive a car seat, layette, pack n’ play, and other items as needed. Families are also encouraged to utilize both our regional Diaper Bank and our food pantry monthly. Through our regional Diaper Bank, we provide diapers, feminine hygiene supplies, and incontinence supplies free of charge. These items can be costly for struggling families and impossible for the homeless; they are not often covered by other government assistance programs.
In case anyone wants to donate supplies to House of Mercy, the organization maintains a Food Pantry wishlist on its website, as well as information about its Amazon and Target Wish Lists.
Financial Assistance and Outreach Our Financial Assistance Program assists individuals and families in the Greater Williamsburg area who, without our assistance, would become homeless. We assist with eviction prevention and utility disconnect notices, and provide supportive services to assist program participants to become stable in the short term and successful in the years beyond. Additionally, when families visit Williamsburg House of Mercy seeking emergency assistance, they are screened for other needs that House of Mercy or other community partners can help with. Once other areas of need are identified, families are invited to participate in programs aimed at reducing the families’ need to rely on emergency assistance.
Community Partners Office: We believe care coordination is the key to pulling together resources from the various organizations and faith groups we partner with. This reduces missed work, and wasted resources like time and gas. We make every effort to coordinate with faith groups and community organizations to bring the services to the people in need and reduce the number of doors they must find and approach. In the spirit of this, the Community Partners Office at Williamsburg House of Mercy hosts willing community providers to bring services and necessary resources to our clients. Our goal is to provide tools and resources, like job search assistance, budget counseling, and help with applying for government assistance, in order to attain long-term stability. We have also partnered with various healthcare providers to bring Healthcare to the Homeless, by providing occasional on-site medical counseling and consultation to the homeless.
Partners currently include:
Legal Aid
Lazarus Rising: Job Assistance and Resume Building
Olde Towne Medical Center
Virginia Employment Commission veterans’ representative, providing liaison services to area veterans. Volunteers VEC are trained in job search assistance, resume writing assistance, job application assistance, interview coaching, and assistance with transportation to and from work
Haircuts for the Homeless provided monthly by local hair stylist, Becca Richardson.
Virginia Health Department is present at each first Friday Mobile Food Pantry conducting blood pressure checks. Flu shot clinics are held in the Fall.
If your organization is interested in utilizing the Community Partners Office to provide on-site community services, please contact our Executive Director.
Community Faith Group Partners
Bruton Parish
Community Action Agency
Eastside Church
Faith Baptist
FISH
Grace Covenant Presbyterian
Greater Williamsburg Outreach Mission
Grove Christian Outreach
Hickory Neck Episcopal
James City County Social Services
Jamestown Christian Fellowship
King of Glory
Knights of Columbus
Life Church
Nest for Neighbors
New Town Methodist
New Zion Baptist
Our Saviour Lutheran Church
Saint Bede Catholic Church
Salvation Army
Smith Memorial Baptist
St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church
St. Martin’s Episcopal Church
St. Olaf Catholic Church
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Union Baptist
United Way
Wellspring United Methodist
Williamsburg Assembly of God
Williamsburg Community Chapel
Williamsburg Presbyterian Church
Williamsburg Social Services
Williamsburg United Methodist Church
In-Kind, Material, and Other Community Partners
Bucktrout Funeral Home and Crematory
Chick-fil-a Mooretown Road
Colonial Williamsburg Resorts
Food Lion
Fresh Market
James City County Rotary
Langley Federal Credit Union
Panera
Publix
Sal’s by Victor
Starbucks
Sugar and Spice
Wawa
Waypoint
Williamsburg Farmer’s Market
Williamsburg Health Foundation
As you read through this list of community partners, you realize that indeed it does “take a village” — not only to raise a child but to help people in need. Things I hadn’t thought of — funeral expenses, haircuts, legal assistance — are among the needs that House of Mercy tries to address. If you want to volunteer for House of Mercy, there’s a sign-up sheet on their website. You can look at that and see where you might be of use. House of Mercy is a faith-based organization, but they make no faith-based distinctions among the people who come to them needing help. The entire reason for their existence is to help people who need help.
Some of you who are reading this don’t live in Williamsburg, but there are organizations in your community that provide these services. Check them out. Or you can make a financial donation to House of Mercy or go to their Amazon or Target wishlists to make an “in-kind” contribution. Although the need is ongoing, it is particularly urgent right now; the school year is approaching and children need school supplies and clothing to start their year on a positive note.
Thank you!
Important information. Thank you. I've always donated to Fish but have only recently learned of The House of Mercy.