THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410270181
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 174 lines
JACKIE RUSSELL KNOWS loss. She lost her brother to the war in Vietnam in 1968. She lost a fiance to suicide 10 years later. After moving to Virginia from Florida in January 1991, Russell thought she had a found a new life.
``I moved in with my sister-in-law while my brother was in Desert Storm. Got a job and bought a car,'' said Russell, 41.
After her brother returned from the Middle East, the Navy transferred him to Florida. Russell, who had found a job here, remained in Virginia, moving in with neighbors.
``I baby-sat for them, missed work and was late. I lost my job and my car,'' she said. She also lost her place to stay when the couple put her out of their home just before the holidays in 1992.
``I walked around Christmas to try and stay warm. It was the coldest day of the year. Slept in ditches because it was a little warmer,'' Russell said.
Then along came Joyce Harrison - and a chain of events that offered Russell yet another new start in life.
After two weeks on the streets, Russell discovered Harrison and the Volunteers of America Shelter Program. The volunteers work with 44 area churches to provide overnight sleeping accommodations for the homeless. Harrison, a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church and director of the church's social ministry, transported Russell to the nightly shelters. As the two women talked, Harrison told Russell about a program she was helping to get started.
It was called Spirit House and it was intended as a transitional shelter for homeless women.
Harrison, Father Tom Caroluzza and parishioners at Holy Spirit had seen the homeless problem first hand. They wanted to help.
Church members found a house in Green Run that was owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. If they used it as a non-profit shelter for homeless women, the church could obtain a lease for $1 a year for five years with an option to buy at the end of the lease.
``We knew there was a population of homeless women in Virginia Beach not being served - women with mental and emotional disabilities,'' said Harrison. ``We wanted to serve them.''
Russell seemed to be just the type of person they wanted to help.
HUD approved the Holy Spirit lease and Spirit House opened its doors on April 14, 1993.
Four days later, Jackie Russell became the second resident. After months on the streets and sleeping at shelters, Russell found herself sleeping in a warm bed in a clean and safe home. She found people who cared and wanted to help her get a fresh start.
Russell stayed at Spirit House for seven months. She got a job as a contract inventory clerk at the Oceana Naval Air Station commissary in August 1993. She has kept it and has received about $3 an hour in raises since she started. She found an apartment in Norfolk and lives in it alone. Though not raised a Catholic, Russell attends Holy Spirit regularly.
Spirit House sits on a quiet street in Green Run. The two-story, four-bedroom house is spacious enough for four women residents and the live-in director, Sharlotte Cocson. Kitchen lights reflect brightly off the surfaces of cabinets and the spic-and-span vinyl flooring. The home looks comfortable and inviting. It could be the home of the average middle-class American family of four.
Spirit House has been furnished with donations and collections, said Fred Schultz, Holy Spirit parishioner and Spirit House committee member.
``A couple in Chesapeake gave us the washer and dryer,'' said Schultz. ``Every item of furniture has been donated by someone.''
Although administered by a Catholic church, Spirit House is non-denominational.
``Our residents do not have to be Catholics, just women who are homeless and need help,'' said Caroluzza. ``We want it to be ecumenical.''
The average length of stay is six to eight months. ``We help them get back on their feet, get a job, find permanent housing,'' said Harrison. ``We don't want them to become institutionalized or overly dependent.''
They haven't.
``We have nine women who have lived here, transitioned through,'' said Cocson. ``Seven have found permanent homes.''
Jeanne Vennard and Kathleen McShea became Spirit House residents the first week of August. Like all who live there, they help with the cleaning, continue whatever treatment they receive from the Community Mental Health Center and fill their days with useful activity. Russell became the resident gardener during her stay.
``We go to Piney Grove Baptist up on Holland (Road),'' said Vennard. ``Someone picks us up and brings us back.''
Vennard, 48 and the mother of five, has lived in Virginia Beach 18 years, and she hopes to stay here after she leaves the house. Before finding Spirit House, she lost her home and had family problems. ``I lost 52 pounds in a year,'' she said. Family stress caused her to become ``a late-blooming anorexic,'' she said with a smile. ``Most of the women who have eating disorders are my kids' ages and younger.
``The hardest part will be leaving here,'' she added.
She credited her therapist at the Community Mental Health Center, Karen Simmons-Faber, as well as the Spirit House staff for her renewed sense of hope.
``She has talked to me about my eating disorder and my depression over the family stress,'' said Vennard.
The Community Mental Health Center plays an integral role in the life of Spirit House. Clinicians screen applicants, provide initial and follow-up therapy and monitor medications.
The center and the city's Community Services Board also act as liaison between the community and Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg.
The hospital has undergone ``a gradual census reduction over the last year or year and a half,'' said Jackie Glover, acting clinical operations director at the hospital. Because of financial considerations, Eastern State has shortened length of stay and intensified short-term treatment, Glover said. The shorter average stay translates into greater need for housing once the patients leave.
Of the approximately 600 patients at Eastern State at any one time, about 40 are Virginia Beach residents. Many are indigent; they often lack jobs, health-care insurance, housing.
``There is more emphasis on finding housing since the census reduction,'' said Glover.
Dr. Terry Jenkins, a clinical psychologist, is the director of mental health services for the Community Services Board. She said that the Spirit House has fulfilled a vital, albeit frequently overlooked, need.
``The women who are appropriate for Spirit House - those with depression and/or anxiety disorders, for example - can become lost in the cracks. Those with incapacitating illness, such as schizophrenia, require immediate and long-term attention and assistance,'' said Jenkins.
Alice Docherty received assistance and lived in the house from April 1 until Oct. 1. She is now living on her own.
Kathleen McShea came to Spirit House on Aug. 1. She had been living in Atlanta for three years, studying to be an information processing specialist at a technical school. She returned to the Beach to be near three of her four grandchildren.
``I was married for 12 years, but I've been a widow since 1976,'' she said. ``I want to complete my schooling and get a job working with computers.''
Cocson plays housemother. Her duties are many. She assigns household chores, transports the women to appointments and groups, makes sure they take their medicine, does minor repairs and serves as the on-site manager.
Cocson attends workshops to educate herself further about mental/emotional illness.
``I encourage them to write their thoughts and feelings down each day, like journaling, I guess you could say,'' she said.
She receives a small salary, part of the projected $30,000 annual budget of the Spirit House. The funding comes from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, the Holy Spirit parish, the South Hampton Roads Campaign for the Homeless and private contributions.
``With volunteers and without bureaucracy or red tape, we offer homeless women a home, help them to begin a fresh start,'' said Caroluzza. ``That's our social ministry.''
Because of that philosophy and the benevolent action Spirit House has taken, Jackie Russell found a way to start anew. She has been able to leave the loss and sadness behind and find a productive life.
Speaking of her job, Russell said: ``Once I felt I fit in I was OK. I worked slowly at first. I'd get a raise and then get put back to my old wage. Then I got faster and got some raises.
``I hope I stay here. I don't want to go back.'' MEMO: For more information about Spirit House, call the Holy Spirit church
office at 468-3600.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Spirit House residents Kathleen McShea, left, and Jeanne Vennard,
right, relax with live-in director Sharlotte Cocson in one of the
home's four bedrooms.
Sharlotte Cocson, left, and former resident Jackie Russell converse
outside Spirit House, a two-story, non-profit shelter in the Green
Run section of Virginia Beach.
ABOVE: During a get-together at Spirit House, Al Deiss speaks with
Kathleen McShea, a resident since Aug. 1. In the background, Joyce
Harrison, left, director of Holy Spirit Catholic Church's social
ministry, visits with resident Jeanne Vennard, a mother of five.
LEFT: Father Tom Caroluzza greets Jackie Russell, who lived in
Spirit House for seven months before finding a job and an
apartment.
by CNB