Family Haven, a “Halfway house”-type program for homeless or otherwise needy families, occupied an on-campus building on Lindell Boulevard until its recent relocation to 10740 West Page Ave.
According to Matt Gerke, the public relations director for the St. Louis branch of the Salvation Army, “We were able to reconfigure a bigger building to combine two separate SA programs [Family Haven and Community in Partnership] and simultaneously improve them. We can help significantly more people in the larger space.”
The new space, which adopted the name “Family Haven-A Community in Partnership,” has 74 beds, compared to the 52 beds in the old building. This new center was originally the Salvation Army’s Community in Partnership Family Center but now with combined efforts is able to offer even more help to those who need it. Families who use the shelter may take advantage of its many resources: case management, life skills classes and additional programs centered on children.
The program’s move did not involve Saint Louis University. SLU is examining options to purchase the building, according to SLU’s property manager Michael Lucido.
Andrew Millard, a SLU junior who has volunteered at the shelter on Lindell for the past two years, said, “I worked in the after school program about three times a week – we would play games with the kids, have activities, watch movies, even go trick-or-treating.”
On any given day there would be about five SLU volunteers and 10 kids.
“They were amazing kids, I loved hanging out there and over time we really got to them,” said Millard. “I was disappointed when I found out they weren’t there anymore.”
SLU’s Campus Kitchen program also helped out with Family Haven. Every Thursday they would provide a complete meal (a starch, protein, vegetable and dessert) for about 50 people. In addition, they provided more student volunteers and occasionally an after school snack like a hot dog, sandwich or trail mix.
Kristen Kettenbach works with Campus Kitchen and spent a lot of time working with Family Haven over the summer. “Whenever we would have leftover food we would take it down there because they always needed it,” said Kettenbach. “I would come in with a few pans of Mostacolli, and their cook would always tell me I made her day.”
Unfortunately, Campus Kitchen is not able to continue working with the new Family Haven shelter because of the increased distance.
“When it would take 20-30 minutes to get there, an hour there and 20-30 minutes back, it’s just too far for most of our volunteers to be able to drive, especially when they still have to cover so much of the surrounding area,” said Kettenbach.
Many other volunteers feel the same way, especially for those without access to transportation each week.
“We appreciated the SLU volunteers very much,” said Gerke. “We had a great partnership on Lindell.”
Family Haven-A Community in Partnership is still looking for volunteers. For more information, please contact (314) 646-3193.
