Many individuals and partners touched the lives of Joseph & Mary’s Home residents last year by providing everything from daily essentials like toiletries, bedding and towels, to warm winter coats and hats. These gifts help us welcome new residents and meet their basic needs. We are also very grateful to all the donors who made Thanksgiving and Christmas extra special.
Joseph & Mary’s Home had a big year in 2022 and has big plans for 2023. Top on the list of accomplishments was the opening of Mary’s Home, a new 10-bed medical respite facility for women experiencing homelessness. Executive Director Beth Graham penned a letter highlighting accomplishments of 2022 and looking ahead to 2023.
Eileen Vizcaino, retired Presbyterian PC U.S.A. clergy woman, volunteers at
Mary’s Home leading a weekly poetry group. She also established a charitable gift annuity, making a donation to Joseph & Mary’s Home that helps support the ministry and pays her a quarterly dividend.
Known around Joseph & Mary’s Home as “by the book Green,” Terry Green has been a resident support associate for nearly four years. He helps ensure there is coverage 24/7/365 and works on different nights the second shift (4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.) and third shift (12:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.). As a recovering alcoholic having reached 30 years of sobriety, Terry said he views working with residents as “giving back.”
For years, the garden behind Joseph’s Home has provided residents with a quiet oasis to help them relax and continue their healing journey. It is filled with flowers, plants, trees, sculptures and places to sit, and has been built and maintained by dedicated volunteers.
The garden has been so important to Joseph’s Home residents, it inspired the creation of a similar outdoor space at Mary’s Home. Thanks to a generous donation from the Sullivan family, the Thomas C. and Sandra S. Sullivan Memorial Garden was built in the summer.
More than 400 people attended the Perseverance in Hope 2022 Benefit Luncheon at Windows on the River in Cleveland on September 13. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped us raise $95,000, and to everyone who supports our mission and was unable to join us for this special day. When we gather together for events like Perseverance in Hope, you are saying that everyone requires a place to call home, that everyone requires high-quality health services when they are ill.
In this resident spotlight, Peaches discusses her battle with cancer, her love for her dog Handsome man, and how she’s grateful for the team treating her at MetroHealth and the support she receives at Mary’s Home.
We were thrilled to welcome The Most Reverend Edward C. Malesic, the bishop of Cleveland, August 2. The Bishop met with leadership and residents to learn more about Joseph’s Home and Mary’s Home, and the ultimate goal of housing as healing. He learned firsthand about these medical respite ministries before he is the keynote speaker at the Perseverance in Hope luncheon on Sept. 13 at Windows on the River in Cleveland. Read more about his visit in this news article from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
In this staff spotlight, we speak to Resident Support Associate Quiana Ellis about her work at Mary’s Home.