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(Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli) Expanding hope St. Vincent de Paul shelter will offer opportunities to enhance life skills By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune The reopening of a Medford homeless shelter will come with a complement of social services for the area's poor. Job training, computer education, library access and dental and medical care are among the planned programs at St. Vincent de Paul's renovated shelter, due to open in February. After receiving a $50,000 grant this month, the nonprofit organization is within $20,000 of concluding its $2.9 million "Beacon of Hope" campaign, which remodeled the St. Anthony Family Homeless Shelter and built a new warehouse and thrift store on North Pacific Highway. At more than double the previous capacity, the new shelter will house up to 48 people. The building's classroom space will enable volunteer professionals to work with shelter residents and the homeless, said Kathy Morgan, vice president of St. Vincent's community relations. Some classes, including those targeting money management, skills for prospective renters and fitness and nutrition, will be open to the public. Advertisement "We just kind of decided we wanted to do a whole holistic approach," Morgan said. The job training center — with priority given to the needy, unemployed and working poor — aims to fill a void left when the Education & Resource Center closed in August after 17 years at the Rogue Valley Mall, Morgan said. Partners in the center cited a decline in state and federal funds. St. Vincent also plans to furnish five computers with Internet access and a library conceived with an initial donation of 100 books. La Clinica del Valle, as part of its outreach mission, plans to bring medical and dental services to St. Vincent, said Maria Underwood, development director for the nonprofit clinic. "The model makes sense, especially for the homeless community," Underwood said. "Transportation is such an issue." Ongoing classes in health education at St. Vincent also will generate referrals to the clinic, Underwood said. Dental screenings will be held once a month with sealants available to children with healthy teeth, she added. Those services are covered by La Clinica's existing budget. La Clinica is seeking additional funding to bring vaccinations and screenings for diabetes to shelter residents. Similar to its work in migrant labor camps, the clinic will treat some immediate medical needs in the shelter, Underwood said. St. Vincent spent about $800,000 to remodel the St. Anthony shelter. More than half the donations to the "Beacon of Hope" campaign came by way of private individuals and businesses, said Len Hebert, president of St. Vincent's Rogue Valley District Council. This month's $50,000 grant was on behalf of the William and Florence Schneider Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation. Last year, St. Vincent housed 360 people for a maximum of 30 days in its homeless shelter despite turning away about five requests monthly for emergency housing. "We simply couldn't accommodate all that was needed," Hebert said. Shelter residents are required to enroll their children in school and log all attempts to find work, Hebert said. They also are encouraged to start a savings account, he added. The volunteer-run shelter made 40,000 meals in its dining room last year. About 9,700 bags of groceries were distributed to 19,000 local adults and children. Other services, like assistance with rent and utilities benefitted 9,000 people last year. More than 1,500 children received school supplies from St. Vincent. For more information about the "Beacon of Hope" campaign, call St. Vincent de Paul at 772-3828 or visit www.stvincentdepaul.info on the Web. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Would you like to respond to this story? 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