“It’s not just stuff.”
Jose has been a family advocate with Simpson Housing Services for nearly three years. His job is to provide support for families making the enormous step out of homelessness and into housing.
Every family arrives at that transition differently. Some embark on life in a new home without anything but the clothes on their backs. He recently worked with a single mother of three who was starting out in a similar place.
That’s where Simpson’s friends at St. Thomas the Apostle Church stepped in.
St. Thomas and its community of volunteers regularly help Simpson in a variety of ways. Some folks like to serve meals at the shelter. Some sign up for tutoring and mentoring services. And every few months or so, they work with advocates like Jose to help transitioning families furnish their new homes.
“The housewarming services are amazing,” Jose says. Volunteers start by sending families a list of basic items – like beds, kitchen utensils, and cleaning supplies – and asking what else they may need. They may ask for rugs, coffee tables, TVs, or curtains… whatever would make their new lives a little more comfortable and their space a little more personal.
From there, St. Thomas puts out the request to its network of volunteers – some parishioners, friends, and family. Brenna Simacek, a congregation member who helps St. Thomas coordinate the housewarmings, says she’s routinely impressed by just how many people end up coming out of the woodwork to help.
“I’m always amazed and humbled by the response that we get,” she says. No matter what a family needs, with a network this big and this eager, someone knows someone who can get their hands on it, and they’re more than happy to help.
New and gently used furnishings are gathered, loaded up into a big truck loaned by a volunteer, and then another volunteer named Jimmy – a man Brenna swears can and will lift an entire dresser on his own – drives everything to the family’s new home, where they and Jose are waiting. A crew of 10 to 15 volunteers are on-hand to unload. Then it’s time to settle in.
“I mean, they’re really good people,” Jose says. “They’re there out of the goodness and grace of their heart.”
Before the pandemic, Brenna says, volunteers got to interact with the families, which was a gratifying part of the experience. She remembers a move around the holidays three years ago, when they were able to help a couple and their two children, who had moved to the Twin Cities after being displaced by a hurricane, decorate their new home for Christmas. Volunteers brought a tree and a brand-new play kitchen for the little ones. She loved watching their faces light up as they played.
These days, volunteers spend a lot less time in the families’ homes, face-to-face. But she says she’s still able to feel the immensity of the impact. You don’t need to watch a mother tuck her children into their new beds in order to understand what it means to have beds at all.
“It’s not just stuff,” she says. It’s the beginning of the next chapter in their lives.
To learn more about the many ways you can help out your community by volunteering at Simpson, click here.
You can also learn more about Simpson’s Family Housing program here.