PROVIDENCE—At 21, Nicole Whittle is one of the city’s younger homeless seeking a warm, safe place to sleep at night at the diocese’s Emmanuel House emergency overflow homeless shelter.
The mother of a two-year-old, she has not had an easy life.
Whittle describes herself as a “product of the state,” having been raised in the custody of the Department of Children Youth and Families.
She says she had a job as a security guard, but lost it when she suffered a back injury. She also points to metal plates in her head and leg.
Classified as permanently disabled, she says she soon found herself homeless. That was two-and-a-half years ago.
Like many who live on the streets, she has found shelter each night wherever she can, sometimes in an emergency placement, sometimes outside.
Last summer, Waterplace Park was one of the places where she rested her head at night. Being outdoors was often safer than staying in one of the city’s shelters, she says.
About three weeks ago, she was referred to Emmanuel House, which the diocese opened in late December in the former Carter Day Child Care Center it operated for a number of years at 239 Public Street in South Providence.
When it opened, Emmanuel House operated from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. only, and was limited to providing 16 beds each night.
But the fact that the shelter has consistently been filled to capacity prompted the diocese to petition the Rhode Island Fire Safety Code Board of Appeals and Review to reconsider the limit of 16 beds it had granted the diocese to provide each night.
On January 25, the board approved a request to increase the number of beds to 35.
“The Diocese of Providence is very grateful to the Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal and Review for their efforts to provide additional beds to homeless men, women and families during these extremely cold winter months,” said Jim Jahnz, emergency services coordinator for the diocese. “Thanks to the board’s ruling, and assistance from the Providence Fire Department, those in the greatest of need will have another option from which to escape the frigid cold.”
And thanks to a $4,000 donation from the Knights of Columbus and the Diocesan Emergency Assistance Fund, the shelter has been able to purchase prepared food for the overnight residents of Emmanuel House.
The assistance comes at a time when so many people are vulnerable to the cold, snowy and dangerous conditions on the streets.
“The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless looks forward to the day when we no longer need this emergency response, but rather implements policies and programs to turn our state from one that shelters our homeless to one that has enough affordable homes for our residents,” said Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.
In addition to providing a warm, safe place to sleep at night, Emmanuel House has especially been a Godsend to Whittle for other reasons.
In addition to providing nurturing overnight staff that are members of the long-term recovery community, Ed Congdon, director of Emmanuel House, has brought in professionals from a variety of agencies to help the guests get back on their feet.
Whittle says that one such professional, a representative of the Public Defender’s office, has encouraged Whittle to pursue her goal of being reunited with her son, who turned two last Friday. She hasn’t seen Malikai, who is being cared for by the state, for five months.
Whittle says the fact that she has been living as a transient is keeping her from her goal, and that she now has renewed energy to push forward to find an apartment so she can initiate the process of being reunited with her son.
“I’m just blessed,” she says, of the support she has received at Emmanuel House. “The lack of housing is one of my biggest barriers.”
Dottie Perreault and Chris Arnold know how difficult it can be to regain traction in your life when things seem to be falling apart. Both are staff members at Emmanuel House, and, like the other staff, are in long-term recovery themselves.
They share their experiences with the guests of the house and give them encouragement to carry on, even when things seem so hopeless.
“I don’t want to be back on the other side,” says Perreault, who says she feels blessed herself in that she has a wonderful husband and is now a homeowner.
Arnold says the worst of times often bring out the best in people.
“If you want to see God’s hand at work, sit here for one entire shift,” Arnold says.
Cars have been pulling up to the shelter regularly, dropping off prepared foods, clothing and hygiene supplies, many collected by school groups, such as students in the seventh and eighth grade Pegasus Program at La Salle Academy.
The gestures of support have left an indelible mark on many of the house guests so far.
“This shows people that it can be done,” says Arnold, of the drive by several of the guests he’s worked with to take charge of their lives again.
Congdon says so far about a dozen guests have agreed to enter drug treatment and alcohol detoxification programs.
Perreault takes every opportunity to remind each guest of the simple mantra that she follows in her life:
“You do your best and God will do the rest.”
