Shelter Of The Cross Helps  Area’s Older Homeless People

DANBURY — Tears well in 59-year-old Cacilia’s eyes and fear ripples in her voice as she talks about the clinical depression, anxiety, and financial troubles that left her homeless when she is supposed to be enjoying her “golden years.” But that pain and fear seem a world away only minutes later when the grandmother’s eyes twinkle and a grin spreads across her face as she talks about painting with acrylics or, almost shyly, shows a visitor the colorful paintings of woodland and seaside scenes she has created.

Cacilia, one of five people now living at Danbury’s Shelter of the Cross, credits the shelter that serves only greater Danbury elderly homeless as the reason for her interest in painting and her hope for the future.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. It was a miracle,” Cacilia said of moving into the shelter last January. “I feel very safe here.”

Located in what once was a two-family house on Aaron Samuels Boulevard near the city’s downtown, the nonprofit, nondenominational transitional program is the only one in the state that specifically serves homeless men and women who are 58 or older. For the dozens of homeless people who have been helped by the privately funded program and found homes of their own, it is a miracle. It is a concept that was born at Western Connecticut State University, and continues to flourish with the help of the university’s alumni, faculty, and students.

“It’s been very helpful for us to have the support of WestConn’s faculty and students,” said Karen Messina, the shelter’s founder and executive director, who also is a WestConn alumna.

Ms Messina saw firsthand the plight of elderly homeless people, who often have needs that differ drastically from their younger counterparts, during her social service work on the city’s streets and in area soup kitchens. While pursuing her master of science in counselor education at WestConn in the early 90s, Karen Messina took a course focused on community counseling that was taught by Professor Emeritus Dr Daniel Joynt. During the course, Dr Joynt asked the Redding resident and her classmates to each identify a specific need in the community and then develop a program to meet the need.

“I identified a need for housing for elderly homeless because their needs are so much more severe,” Ms Messina said. “And there are a lot of elderly homeless people — many more than most people would like to believe.”

The elderly homeless represent a cross-section of economic, racial, and cultural groups, according to the shelter’s website. Some suffer with psychiatric disabilities, substance abuse problems, or lost jobs. Several are highly educated. Most suffer with medical complications due to years of neglect of their health. In 2001, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimated that five to ten million people experience homelessness at some time during their life. Karen Messina estimates that five to ten percent of the homeless population is elderly.

Armed with the stories of the area’s elderly homeless who defy stereotypes and have individual reasons for becoming homeless, Ms Messina wrote the plan to create Shelter of the Cross. She then enlisted Dr Joynt’s help and set about making her concept a reality.

“He was very instrumental in the development of Shelter of the Cross and even agreed to serve on the board of directors,” Ms Messina said.

In 1993, Shelter of the Cross was incorporated as a nonprofit organization, which is privately funded by area businesses, individuals, civic organizations such as Newtown Rotary, churches, and others. (The shelter is one of the area agencies assisted through the Newtown town budget; several former Newtown residents have been among the homeless served by the shelter.)

Karen Messina earned her master’s degree from WestConn in 1994. With a mortgage from a local bank, the program bought the house that serves as the organization’s office and the shelter for its clients in July 1997. It was a home that had been foreclosed and sat vacant for many months, so it needed a great deal of work, Ms Messina pointed out.

“[Dr Joynt] also was instrumental in rehabilitating the house, both in helping with the physical labor and in connecting us to the resources of Habitat for Humanity,” she said.

The shelter opened the doors of its tidy facility, which is furnished with donated items, to its first residents in March 1998.

Since then, the program has provided transitional housing, support and services to nearly 50 people. It is expected that residents will move into permanent and independent housing within two years. The shelter’s capacity is six residents, and the average stay is about 11 months. “Graduates” of the program continue to receive outreach support and services for 18 months after that to ensure their success.

The first graduate of the home was a woman from Newtown who had lived as a companion to a couple. After the couple died, the family had let her go with no seed money.

The program provides its services with plenty of ongoing help from members of the WestConn community. For example, the organization’s only other paid, full-time employee is Assistant Director Lydia Kehl, a Danbury resident who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WestConn. And the shelter’s residents receive one-on-one and group counseling from students enrolled in the university’s graduate-level counselor education program, which prepares students for community counseling positions.

“Right from the start, we’ve worked with the internship and practicum students from the counselor education graduate program,” Ms Messina said. “I find the graduate counseling program at WestConn to be exceptional. All the students we’ve engaged from the program have been extremely competent. They’re very well-trained and well-qualified.”

To earn their degrees, the students must complete a practicum, which requires they serve 100 hours in a community counseling setting. That is about ten hours a week for a semester. The students also must complete two internships. Those require about 300 hours, or 20 hours a week, for a semester. WestConn students provide unpaid counseling services in a host of community settings throughout the region. Some choose to spend a portion of their time helping Shelter of the Cross residents.

Working with Karen Messina and Lydia Kehl, Dr Joynt and Dr Michael Gilles, assistant professor of education and educational psychology, oversee the work the WestConn students do at the shelter. This semester, Sheila McLaughlin, a Danbury resident who is pursuing her master of science in counselor education, is splitting her practicum hours between Shelter of the Cross and the Women’s Counseling Center in Brookfield.

“It’s been a great experience,” Ms McLaughlin said of her work at the shelter. “I’m really enjoying the individual counseling. The residents have an array of issues, so it’s an excellent opportunity for me to work with them and gain valuable experience.”

Many of the residents, most of whom don’t have medical insurance, would not have access to the one-on-one counseling they need without the students’ help, Ms Messina said.

“Overall, I would say our residents are very receptive to the students coming in,” she added. “It’s an integral part of the program.”

For her part, Cacilia said she is grateful for all the opportunities the program offers her. That includes her painting, which she took up because Lydia Kehl urged her to try art classes at the Danbury Senior Center.

“For me, it’s a miracle,” she said. “I was at the bottom; now, I’m not.”

Shelter of the Cross welcomes donations and volunteerism from WestConn and the larger community. To contact Shelter of the Cross directly, visit www.shelter-cross.org/index.htm or call 791-1050. Or, call the WestConn Office of University Relations at 837-8486 for more information.