To all of our faithful blog followers, we really must apologize for leaving you without any updates for several months. After the Drop-In Center renovations were finished and we opened our doors to the women in February 2021, we have been communicating more through other social media platforms. So here’s a brief recap of the past few months:

• The Drop-In Center is open every Monday afternoon. Following a home-cooked lunch that is usually provided by a volunteer, the women have opportunities to shower, have their clothes washed, request supplies, and participate in any planned activities such as arts and crafts sessions. It’s also a time for conversations and sometimes even naps. We are thrilled to be able to offer this safe space for the women to meet and build community and trust.

• We continue to serve the women on the streets on Thursday evenings, taking them food and supplies, and getting the word out about the Drop-In Center to any of the women who haven’t yet heard that we are open on Mondays.

Soon after each of these events, either our Executive Director Sandra Ferrell or our Program Director Whitney Fullerton will post a report on our Facebook page. If you do not have a Facebook account but would like to receive the reports in your email inbox every Friday morning, sign up at this link: join our email list. Meanwhile, you can use the following link to catch up on our previous reports: read weekly updates.

Monday and Thursday afternoons with the women are not our only busy times. We sometimes host the Praying Pelicans missions groups who help us with various improvement projects around the center. But in a typical week we also sort donations, pack care bags, help the women obtain IDs, or drive them to appointments. We also spend time helping them connect with community resources that they request, such as detox, rehab, housing, employment, health care, or other opportunities that they are unable to pursue on their own for various reasons.

We have always followed trauma-informed principles in our interactions with the women, but now thanks to our Trauma-Informed Care Coordinator, Markesha Woods, our staff and volunteers are receiving training in these principles. Our Administrative Assistant Rachel Wilson keeps up with our in-kind donation inventory, an important task that helps us efficiently meet the women’s needs for clothing and supplies.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Lisieux Community, and we will do our best to keep you better informed in future.

All the best,

Teresa Johnson

Lisieux Board Chair and Social Media Coordinator