When it comes to decades of hard, pious work done by religious women in the Church, the work by the Daughters of Charity in Arkansas would be hard to beat. 

The order of religious women, founded by St. Vincent de Paul, arrived in Arkansas in 1973 and spread out all across the state, filling in the gaps in communities and going wherever help was needed, primarily in Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Hamburg, Prescott, Hope, Gould, Dumas and Little Rock. 

Now, 52 years later, the Daughters of Charity are preparing to say goodbye — but their legacy of service remains. 

Sister Joan Pytlik spent 28 years serving in Arkansas. With a background in nursing, Sister Joan spent years serving the poor in hospitals in Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. 

At the same time, the Daughters of Charity were growing in Arkansas, helping vulnerable individuals and families in hospitals and schools and by starting nonprofits and charitable services, such as Neighbor to Neighbor and Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock, and health clinics in Gould and Dumas. 

In 1990, Sister Joan found herself in the small southeast Arkansas town of Gould, where the Daughters of Charity started a health clinic, the St. Elizabeth Health Center and Dental Clinic. A year later, she moved to Little Rock to become the director of Helping Hand, where she worked alongside the State Legislature to help vulnerable families. 

“In Gould, we had told the state senators, if we come here, we will have to have a bill passed so that nurse practitioners can write a prescription, because they wouldn’t always have a physician. It didn’t pass all the way through the first time, and then I moved to Little Rock. At Helping Hand, the first grocery bill had a sales tax of $500. I said, ‘Well, we don’t pay sales tax.’ They said, ‘You do in Arkansas.’ So with my little knowledge, I got some people together and we got a bill passed to exempt nonprofits that provide free food to the poor from the grocery tax.”

Eventually, Sister Joan also helped pass the bill allowing nurse practitioners to write prescriptions. Her work impressed then-Bishop Andrew McDonald, who hired her to be the social action director and lobbyist for the Diocese of Little Rock. She worked for the diocese for 23 years. 

Sister Joan continued her lobbying work, along with ministering to other religious communities and keeping up with health care legislation being passed. She retired in 2019 to Evansville, Ind., after 28 years of service in Arkansas. 

Like Sister Joan, Sister Teresa Daly was drawn to the Daughters of Charity and joined in 1968. She found herself in Arkansas in 1988, serving the Anglo and Latino communities in Hamburg, Crossett, Monticello, Warren and Glenwood. She also served as the parish administrator in southern Arkansas. 

“I worked with the people. I had the education committee, finance councils, parish councils. I had all of that set up, and I worked with all of the people. And thank God for the people, they did most of the work,” Sister Teresa said. 

One challenge the sisters often found themselves facing was the rural landscape. 

“We were not really physically, geographically close to each other. We tried to get together once a month for a weekend, but it was difficult sometimes, because the distances were great … and we had smaller churches,” she said.

Sister Servant Sister Mary Powers joined the Daughters of Charity in 1980 when she was 31. She had studied nursing and was called to chaplaincy. While ministering at a hospital in Washington, D.C., she realized that many patients were being discharged to homeless shelters. Sister Mary knew that she would soon be moving and wanted to work more with the homeless population. Shortly after, in February 2019, a position opened at Jericho Way Day Resource Center in Little Rock, and she found herself in Arkansas. Soon, she was volunteering and starting spirituality groups in the Diocese of Little Rock.

As the sister servant — the Daughters of Charity title for mother superior — of the Daughters of Charity in Arkansas, Powers had seen the sisters’ work change over the years. She said the declining number of the aging Daughters of Charity has forced many sisters to relocate to areas most in need, to be as effective as possible. 

“The main reason is that we’re getting older and smaller, and there’s just not enough sisters to put everywhere where we’re used to being, so the decision was made by our leadership, which for our province of the Province of St. Louise, is located in St. Louis. … 

“The three of us that remain in this house are in our 70s, and a couple of years ago, we realized how vulnerable we can be. One sister broke her hip, the other fractured her kneecap. And that left me to take care of them, which I can do, but you realize how vulnerable you are at this age. Something can happen at any time. I’m not naive — even though I’m in fairly decent health, it doesn’t mean I can’t fall and break my hip tomorrow if I step wrong. 

“And a lot of our houses are the same way, so the decision has been made to consolidate. We may be starting one or two houses in areas that we’ve determined are really in great need, but it’s not going to be like it was when there were 30 and 40 and 50 sisters coming at a time to active communities. … We’re shrinking in size and getting older.”

In June, the three remaining Daughters of Charity in Arkansas will be leaving. Sister Mary Ann Azar will be relocating to Baltimore, and Sister Nancy Cassidy will be moving to Philadelphia. Sister Mary will be moving to Albany, N.Y., to work with other Daughters of Charity who are in assisted living and nursing homes as the superior of that community. 

Sister Teresa said it is important for the laity to embrace Catholic Social Teachings as religious orders shrink. 

“It’s very important that we try to pass this on, because we’re not going to be there forever — as you know, we’re leaving Arkansas,” she said. “So hopefully, there are people to replace us. But what I basically tell people is that you have a vocation as a layperson. You have a call as a layperson, because at one point, you were baptized. It’s that simple… That’s something you can work with figuring out — what your call is. Everybody’s call is different because everybody is different. They have different skills, they have different abilities and everyone’s situation is different. But what is your situation — through your baptism — that you are being called to?”

A legacy of service

Daughters of Charity have served across Arkansas since they arrived in 1973, ministering to the poor.

• Sister Mary Catherine Dunn, Neighbor to Neighbor in Pine Bluff
• Sister Bonnie Hoffman, nursing instructor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
• Sister Jane Frances Bey, St. John Church in Fort Smith with the elderly and at Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach Center in Pine Bluff
• Sister Stephanie Hudek, St. John Church in Fort Smith with the elderly and at Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach Center in Pine Bluff
• Sister Karen Baustian, Neighbor to Neighbor in Pine Bluff and St. Bartholomew Parish in Little Rock.
• Sisters Jane Frances Bey, Stephanie Hudek and Lawrence Grimsley served the people of Pine Bluff.
• Sister Vincent Thomas was instrumental in developing St. John Center for the elderly in Fort Smith.
• Sister Carol Kellinger, West Arkansas Community College in Fort Smith.
• Sister Mary Guerra, Fort Smith
• Sister Maria Kleinschmidt, St. Joseph Parish in Pine Bluff and Diocesan Office of Religious Education
• Sister Patricia Bachman, Neighbor to Neighbor in Pine Bluff and St. Bartholomew Parish in Little Rock
• Sister Nancy Sullivan, director of the Westside Free Medical Clinic in Little Rock
• Sister Virginia Dunker, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Little Rock, tutored at Catherine House, Helping Hand and also tutored at the Varner State Prison.
• Sister Joan Pytlik, director of the diocesan Social Action Office and in the Hurricane Katrina recovery and as the diocese’s minister to religious
• Sister Patricia Sullivan, Fort Chaffee with the immigrants and refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia.
• Sister Maria Liebeck, Hamburg and at Helping Hand in Little Rock.
• Sister Karen Flaherty, after-school learning clubs in Stamps and Prescott
• Sister Paul Matushek ministered in the after-school learning clubs in Stamps and Prescott.
• Sister Teresa Daly, pastoral minister at Holy Spirit Parish in Hamburg, and in Malvern and Arkadelphia.
• Sister Hermana Hoelscher, pastoral associate at the Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock.
• Sister Lucretia Burns, Learning Clubs in Hope
• Sister Doris Moore, learning clubs in Prescott and Stamps as well as at Helping Hand in Little Rock and at St. Edward School.
• Sister Rosella Molitor, learning clubs in Hope
• Sister Ruth Ellen Dean, learning club in Hope
• Sister Mary Walz, social worker at the health clinics in Gould and Dumas
• Sister Janina Zilvinski, nurse midwife at UAMS in Little Rock as a nurse midwife and developed a prenatal clinic for undocumented women who were at St. Edward Church.
• Sister Seraphine Ferraro, executive director of the health clinics in Gould and Dumas
• Sister Kathleen Miles, parish administrator in Star City and Grady
• Sister Elizabeth Greim, former director of Jericho Way Resource Center
• Sister Irma Vargas, social services in Dumas
• Sister Sharon Horace, social services in Gould
• Sister Phyllis Nolan, Hispanic ministry in Hot Springs and Glenwood
• Sister Judy Warmbold, counselor in Gould and Dumas
• Sister Denise Duplesis, St. Peter School, Pine Bluff
• Sister Constance Hummel lived in Lake Providence, La., which became a part of the Arkansas Daughters of Charity Community.
• Sister Dorothea Moll, health clinics in Gould and Dumas
• Sister Mary Lou Stubbs, director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas
• Sister Cecillia Tsao, health clinics in Gould and Dumas
• Sister Joan Kuester, Sister Marcella Ewers, Sister Janet Keim, DCS-ARK board.
• Sister Marilyn Moore, DCS-ARK board and at Varner Prison Ministry
• Sister Marilyn Perkins, mission integration director
• Sister Patty Hoffman, board member
• Sister Mary Ann Azar, immigration specialist for Catholic Charities Immigration Services
• Sister Nancy Cassidy, Jericho Way Day Resource Center in Little Rock, Helping Hand of Little Rock and the Society of St. Vincent DePaul at St. Anne Parish, North Little Rock
• Sister Mary Powers, Jericho Way Day Resource Center, Helping Hand of Little Rock and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in North Little Rock
• Sister Iliana Aponte, St. Theresa Church and parish outreach liaison for Catholic Charities

After 28 years of providing a variety of health services to the poor and vulnerable in Lincoln and Desha counties, the Daughters of Charity are moving to other states.

The final three sisters have moved or are moving this fall. Sister Cecillia Tsao is now serving as a doctor in Washington, D.C., and Sister Marilyn Perkins is working in parish ministries in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Sister Marilyn Moore, the superior, who has served four years in Gould, told Arkansas Catholic Oct. 30 that she will move in a few weeks once their home is sold. She’ll then serve in Evansville, Ind., on an organic farm run by the Daughters of Charity. Their order asked the sisters to relocate.

Over the years at least 20 Daughters of Charity served southeast Arkansas.

“I will miss a lot of things,” Sister Marilyn Moore said. “I love the rural area here, but from a people standpoint, I’ll miss the diversity here. There’s all kinds of diversity, I don’t think I’ll find that quite so prominent where I’m going. We definitely have religious diversity, racial diversity, ethnic diversity and everyone seems to get along with all that and I really appreciate that.”

Health care has been the main ministry established by the sisters in Gould and Dumas, but Sister Marilyn has worked in prison ministry, serving as a tutor or aide in the GED public school program in the Varner Unit.

“It’s rewarding in its own way to see them encouraged and motivated to work toward their GED,” she said. “They all know that I’m leaving … Politely they said I would be missed. It’s like anything else, they’re used to people coming and going.”

St. Elizabeth Health Center in Gould was founded in 1990 by Sisters Mary Walz, a social worker now in Durant, Miss., serving in the Lexington Medical Clinic, and Sister Joan Pytlik, a former nurse practitioner who now lives in Little Rock. In 1989, the sisters were asked by the West Central Region of the Daughters of Charity National Health System to research the health and social service needs of communities in the Arkansas Delta, according to a 2010 Arkansas Catholic article. At the time, they discovered residents had little access to doctors and transportation.

In 1992, the DePaul Health Center opened in Dumas, about eight miles from Gould’s clinic. Since its founding, the sisters expanded health services to include diabetes and obesity care, dental care, mental health, social services, a fitness center and a pharmacy.

Though the sisters have not been in charge of the clinics for years, they were staff members or active on the board. Sister Joan, now the diocesan social justice advocate, said there will still be a sister, who lives in Washington, D.C., on the board who will visit occasionally. It is still run by the Catholic health system Ascension.

Sister Joan said she hopes the clinics will continue to thrive because although more clinics have been founded in southeast Arkansas the past 28 years, transportation is still hard for people in Gould. She said she will also miss going to Gould, as the sisters would “meet together for a weekend every month for these 28 years.”

Currently, Sister Joan and Sister Mary Ann Azar are the only two Daughters of Charity in the state, serving in Little Rock, but Sister Joan said three sisters recently have visited the Diocese of Little Rock concerning potential positions in parishes and Catholic organizations in Little Rock.

“I’m very proud,” Sister Joan said of the legacy left behind in Gould. “We started it, but we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy place to live and serve because it’s remote and poor, etc. I think with the sisters there, especially Mary Walz, they had a lot of influence bringing the black and white community together; it was very segregated when we first got there so I’m very proud of that and how the sisters were a part of the local community there. A lot of people got good health care too. I guess there’s a time for everything under heaven.”

Sister Dorothea Moll, DC, who served in social ministry in Gould and Dumas for seven years, died May 23. She was 74.

She was born Susan Frances Moll in St. Louis on Aug. 29, 1943, one of five children to Theodore D. and Agnes Ballmann Moll. In 1961, she graduated from St. Francis De Sales High School in St. Louis. Three years later, she entered the Daughters of Charity. Sister Dorothea earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1969.

For 20 years, she served in social agencies and hospitals working in accounting and business in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Dallas, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio and Waco, Texas. She also served on several boards of directors for hospitals and medical centers.

Sister Dorothea ministered to children, the homeless and those with mental illness after earning a master’s degree in social work from St. Louis University in 1995, according to a 2014 Arkansas Catholic article celebrating her 50th jubilee.

In 2010, she came to the Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas health centers in Gould and Dumas as a licensed social worker.  She entered the ministry of prayer at her residence in Gould in late 2017 and lived at The Sarah Community retirement home in Bridgeton, Mo., at the time of her death. She enjoyed gardening and candle making.

Sister Dorothea is survived by one brother, John Moll of Columbia, Ill.; and one sister, Mary Anne Keller of Fenton, Mo.

A visitation was held May 29 in Bridgeton, Mo., and a Mass of Christian Burial was held May 30, with burial at Marillac Cemetery in Normandy, Mo.

Sister Elizabeth Greim, DC, and volunteers at Jericho Way, a Little Rock day resource center for the homeless, encounter Jesus in every person who walks through the doors.

“I feel privileged not just working with these people but spending my day with 150 Jesus Christs,” said Sister Elizabeth, program director. “He is alive in mind and body in every single one of them.”

On March 30, 2014, Jericho Way, at 3000 Springer Boulevard, was given a renewed spirit, leased under the operation of the City of Little Rock to Depaul USA, a nationwide Catholic nonprofit that offers services to the homeless. Depaul USA has homelessness programs in just six U.S. cities.

“Their lives are very tough. I’ve worked in Baltimore with the homeless, I’ve worked in Macon, Ga., in Richmond, Va., and there’s something about here that’s very raw,” Sister Elizabeth said, citing how the Benedictine and Vincentian models of “no one is a stranger, everyone is welcomed as Christ” has changed the lives of clients. “There’s a tenderness inside many of the people you meet here.”

Michael Sneed, 55, said the “quality of help is a lot better” since Depaul USA took control. 

“They helped me get a job and they’re going to help me get an apartment. It means the world to me. Without them, there’s no telling where I’d be right now,” Sneed said.

Jericho Way offers several services, including breakfast and lunch, showers, laundry, access to computers and transportation. Case managers work with clients on job counseling, help with resumes and housing referrals. Some clients are also permitted to go on “field trips” to places like Heifer International and the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and are taken out to a restaurant for a meal, which helps restore their dignity, Sister Elizabeth said.

“We moved very quickly from being showers, laundry, computers to housing, jobs, transportation, an increase in income. Which is really where we want to be,” Sister Elizabeth said.

However, Jericho Way is not defined by its services, but rather the transformed lives of clients and volunteers.

Shannon Callahan and Steve Hoffmann, both parishioners and Bible study leaders at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock, lead a weekly Wednesday Bible Study at the center and volunteer in a variety of ways, including with the new housing program.

“Sister calls what we do the ministry of presence, not just volunteer to do laundry or serve food but actually to sit and visit and listen to everyone,” Hoffmann said.

The Bible study uses Catholic Bibles, but no one is ever forced to attend or pressured to convert. While Depaul USA is Catholic, Sister Elizabeth explained that it’s not about pushing the faith, but rather doing this ministry “because we’re Catholic.”

“I didn’t expect God to send me to work in a homeless shelter, but it just kind of happened,” Callahan said, with Hoffmann adding, “It makes us humble also that these people are willing to let us into their lives.”

It’s that trust and respect that makes people like James McEntre, 43, come back.

“I’m manic depressive, bipolar state and they keep me happy. Sister is awesome; she gives you a hug as soon as she sees you,” he said, adding if you’re there for the right reasons, “miracles are going to happen.”

Just since February, Jericho Way has placed 15 clients into permanent housing. Tim Williams, 47, who volunteers in the kitchen, is proud to be on that list.

“I walked from North Little Rock to over here,” he said this past January. “I’ve been to a lot of homeless shelters, day centers and everything, but here I feel comfortable. I can really talk to people who have been experiencing the same thing I have been experiencing.”

Isaac Wade, 52, began as a client and then volunteer, but was quickly sought out by Sister Elizabeth for his “capability and charisma” to take over the full-time paid position as a custodian for Jericho Way.

It’s a position he’s excelled at for almost a year now, even traveling to Philadelphia to complete a Vincentian values course offered to Depaul USA staff members.

Wade now has a home, a girlfriend, a vehicle and even an iPhone for his work. It’s a far cry from his past. 

“I had a cocaine addiction. That’s what kept me homeless. It was just another tool the devil used. The devil has a lot of tools; it doesn’t make me feel like I’m not as good as the next person,” Wade said. “I slept up under the bridge for two years … I did everything a homeless person could ever do and some more. I’m still here by the grace of God. I ain’t mad about it. I feel like it’s just an experience for me. I know what it’s like to be homeless, to sleep outside in the cold, to deal with the mosquitoes, to eat out of the trash. I know what it’s like.”

The hard work that Wade put into turning his life around is “beautiful, makes me want to cry,” Sister Elizabeth said.

Sister Elizabeth has told fellow Catholics, especially in this Year of Mercy, that Jericho Way is not a place to just give mercy, but a place to receive it.

“You need to ask of them for mercy and forgiveness for the ways that we’ve created systems that oppress them,” Sister Elizabeth said. “It’s not about me feeding you. It’s about Jesus has fed me in his body and blood, and I take that out to feed others so they don’t just get the food they eat but they also get food for their soul. If I can’t do both, it doesn’t work.”

For volunteer opportunities or to find out what donations are needed, contact Calandra Davis at (501) 297-0991 or calandra.davis@depaulusa.org or Sister Elizabeth at (501) 297-8904.

Religious orders — sisters, brothers and priests — serve primarily in larger communities in Central Arkansas and the River Valley. Although the largest parishes are located in the Ozark Mountain deaneries, there are very few religious orders currently working there. A religious order priest serves in Hope, but no sisters or brothers are stationed in the Ouachita Mountain region.

1. Ozark Mountains
(North Ozark and West Ozark deaneries)

• Dominican sisters (Mountain Home)

• Indian Missionary Society (Bella Vista)

• Sisters of Mercy (Rogers)

2. River Valley
(West River Valley and River Valley deaneries)

• Apostles of Jesus (Charleston)

• Benedictines, St. Scholastica Monastery (Fort Smith, New Blaine)

• Benedictines, Subiaco Abbey (Altus, Subiaco, Paris, New Blaine, Clarksville)

• Catholic Teachers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Dardanelle)

• Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (Fort Smith)

• Dominican Sisters of Tam Hiep (Fort Smith)

• Indian Missionary Society (Scranton)

• Sisters of Mercy (Fort Smith, Barling)

• Spiritans (Center Ridge, Hattieville)

3. Ouachita Mountains
(Ouachita Deanery)

• Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (Hope)

4. Central Arkansas
(Central Deanery)

Little Rock, North Little Rock:

• Apostles of Jesus

• Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis

• Carmel of St. Teresa of Jesus

• Daughters of Charity

• Daughters of Divine Love

• Discalced Carmelite Friars

• Missionaries of Charity

• Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

• Sisters of Mercy

• Society of Divine Word

• Vincentians

• Missionary Carmelites of St. Teresa (Conway)

• Missionary Catechists of the Poor (Hot Springs)

• Sisters of Mercy (Hot Springs)

5. Delta
(South Delta and North Delta deaneries)

• Apostles of Jesus (Paragould)

• Benedictines, Holy Angels Convent (Jonesboro, Pocahontas, West Memphis)

• Daughters of Charity (Gould)

• Missionary Carmelites of St. Teresa (Hamburg)

• Norbertines (Blytheville)

• Society of Divine Word (Pine Bluff)

• Spiritans (Helena)

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It’s been a hard road for William “Bud” Caudle, who frequently visits the Jericho Way homeless day center in Little Rock.

“I lost all my money and home. I’ve toured all the psych wards in the city,” Caudle said. But at the March 30 re-opening of Jericho Way now operated by Depaul USA, a nationwide nonprofit that offers services for the homeless to get back on their feet and excel in their communities, Caudle said he has a renewed hope.

“I think it’s wonderful that they said people of faith and no faith can come and get help from people of faith and no faith,” Caudle said, adding he’s a little bit Methodist and a little bit Buddhist. “I had been turned away from religion for a long time, but when Sister (Elizabeth Greim, DC) said that, I started to cry and in that moment I said, ‘Thank God.’”

Caudle is just one of the many lives Depaul USA is hoping to strengthen by implementing its proven program, focusing on four key principles: providing assistance to confront homelessness; improve health and well-being; assistance to become economically self-sufficient; and attain and remain in housing.

The people who come are not referred to as the homeless, but rather “participants.”

The nonprofit came out of the Catholic tradition of St. Vincent de Paul but is committed to serving all people, not just Catholics. It has day centers in Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Louis, Macon, Ga., and Little Rock, with Chicago as its next endeavor.

“We want to get deeper involvement, so they don’t just come for food but to sit with a case worker and figure out what you need to make the next step in your life,” said Chuck Levesque, president and executive director of Depaul USA.

Up until March, Jericho Way was operated by the City of Little Rock. However, Mayor Mark Stodala, who attended the ceremony along with North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith, wanted to enlist the help of an outside organization. Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, the diocesan minister for religious, helped get the ball rolling by getting more information about Depaul USA from Levesque and passing it along to the mayor.

“Sister Joan said, ‘Hey the Daughters of Charity are running an operation up there, maybe you need to go take a look at it,” Stodola said to the crowd.

After the mayor and other city officials met with Sister Elizabeth, who was then the director of the nonprofit’s Macon, Ga., center called Daybreak, the wheels began to turn, leading to a $270,000 contract for Depaul USA to take over operations at the center at 3000 Confederate Boulevard. Sister Elizabeth was named director for Jericho Way.

Another Daughter of Charity will take over the Georgia facility this summer.

“I would hope that someone coming to Jericho Way now would say they were treated with respect, that their dignity was acknowledged and respected and that they were treated as an adult,” Sister Elizabeth said. “They are an adult who has the ability, at whatever level they are at, to be the agent of their own change. We’re not going to fix it all, but we’re going to be here to help them.”

For basic necessities, breakfast, lunch  and laundry facilities are offered, Sister Elizabeth said. There are also three showers, two for men and one for women.

As time goes on, the center will focus on job training, education and getting the community involved, which can start with church volunteers.

“Helping staff the laundry room, help with reception, welcoming people in the morning … taking in their bags and helping them secure their things so they can feel safe with us … helping in the kitchen,” Sister Elizabeth said of available volunteer opportunities. “Some people might just be on-call, if someone needs an application filled out, someone who can sit down and help fill out an application with somebody.”

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor gave the opening prayer, while Rabbi Eugene H. Levy gave a blessing and Rev. Thompson Murray of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church gave the closing prayer.

“We recall the story of the good Samaritan who offered assistance to a broken man very different from himself on that Jericho Way 2,000 years ago, who saw a need and did something about it,” Bishop Taylor said in his prayer, adding later, “This is a safe place where homeless people can find care and shelter today.”

Levesque said the goal is not to duplicate services already present in Little Rock but to fill in gaps.

Despite only a short amount of time being operated by Depaul USA, some significant changes have already taken place, most notably in the main room when people first walk through the doors. Where there used to be long, white plastic tables now sit stylish small black tables and comfortable chairs like one would find in a family room.

It is changes like this that make all the difference in how a homeless person feels about changing their life, Caudle said.

“I was telling the Sister when I wake up and come here, I don’t feel homeless,” Caudle said.

For volunteer opportunities, contact Calandra Davis at (501) 297-0991 or calandra.davis@depaulusa.org.

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The nationwide nonprofit Depaul USA, which offers services for the homeless to get back on their feet and excel in their communities, is bringing its mission to Little Rock, thanks to a dialogue started between the organization and the city by the Diocese of Little Rock.

Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, the diocese’s minister for religious, reached out to Chuck Levesque, president and executive director of Depaul USA, after seeing several articles on the organization through the website www.famVIN.org, part of the St. Vincent de Paul network, she said. After sending a few articles to Mayor Mark Stodola, requesting more information from the organization and a conversation with the assistant city manager, Bryan Day, it all fell into place over time.

“The mayor for some years has been trying to start this day resource center … then he opened it in May 2013 and they weren’t able to hire a director and the city was doing the best that it could but doing the program wasn’t their thing necessarily,” Sister Joan said. “What impressed me (about Depaul USA) was how loving they were to the homeless and how they treated them like adults with dignity.”

What this has turned into for the city is a unique day resource center focused on four key principles for the homeless, who Levesque refers to as “participants,” who come to the center: providing assistance to confront homelessness; improve health and well-being; assistance to become economically self-sufficient; and attain and remain in housing.

“We come out of the Catholic tradition of St. Vincent de Paul,” Levesque said, adding that their mission is not to convert. “We serve people of all faiths, we hire anybody qualified … We do what we do because we are Catholic. We don’t require you to do any religious activities. We are living the faith, acting out our values.”

The city’s board of directors voted Feb. 3 to award a $270,000, 10-month contract to Depaul USA to operate the city-owned day
resource center.

The nonprofit, an offshoot of Depaul International that was started about 25 years ago, has day centers in Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Louis and Macon, Ga. Little Rock and Chicago are its next endeavors. The Little Rock center, called Jericho Way Resource Center, will be modeled after the nonprofit’s Georgia center called Daybreak.

“We want to treat them with respect and move them to a life of greater dignity,” Levesque said of participants coming to the center. “It’s rare to find organizations that do all those things and on a national level.”

And there are countless stories of people who have reached their goals thanks to the center’s accessibility, said Sister Elizabeth Greim, DC, program director at Daybreak.

“This man was living on the streets for three years. He said, ‘I was just lost and didn’t know what to do. What happened when Daybreak opened, I had access to a phone, access to a computer, I could check my e-mail on it … because I had access to that I was able to finish my disability application,’”

Sister Elizabeth said of the man who cannot have a full-time job because of disabilities, “He said, ‘Now I have my disability (coverage) and my own place. I don’t come down just because I need to use anything anymore. I need companionship and this is the place that became home for me.’”

For Sister Elizabeth, that story in particular shows how the center can be a service for people to empower themselves. 

“It made a significant difference in his life. It was the hospitality and openness that allowed him to do it for himself,” Sister Elizabeth said. “He said, ‘I owe everything to Daybreak,’ I said, ‘You owe everything to yourself. Providing you the tools was our way of participating in your own recovery in this situation.’”

Mayor Stodola visited the Georgia center in February 2014 for several hours and while there, a participant interrupted their meeting, Levesque said.

“He came in and said, ‘I don’t want to interrupt, but I wanted to tell you I got a job’ so we all celebrated with him,” Levesque said. “I told the mayor, ‘Please believe we didn’t set this up.’”

But it’s moments like that that impressed the mayor during his visit.

“I was very impressed with their operation and that has led to Depaul USA’s executive director coming to Little Rock,” Stodola told Arkansas Catholic. “I’m excited about their involvement and their approach on how to deal with the homeless. I think it will enhance our ability to help those people get reemployed and into housing. I’m glad (Sister Joan) tipped us on it.”

The center will close for a week and reopen at the end of the March. The operating hours will be in the morning and afternoon. 

Daybreak hosts a variety of services, including showers, laundry, health care and education. Levesque said the center is not open for overnight lodging, but they have set up emergency care in the winter when temperatures drop. The center is supported by 10 local Christian churches that often volunteer, something Levesque hopes will happen in Little Rock.

“I think that’s kind of missing there (in Little Rock) now. We want volunteers to get involved in playing games, providing education, job training,” Levesque said.

Daybreak also has a free medical clinic in conjunction with Georgia College. As far as specifics on what Little Rock’s center will include, Levesque said it will take some time to assess the city’s needs. 

“We don’t want to duplicate services” already available in the city, Levesque said, but rather form partnerships.

Since Daybreak started in 2012, 3,091 people were helped through various services. In 2014, 47 people transitioned into stable housing. 

What is consistent at all the nonprofit centers is the openness to people at all stages of homelessness, whether a transient just needs a shower and a meal to a person who is interested in job training and getting off the streets. 

“When someone comes in we want to greet them so they feel welcome, so they can get rest and restoration for the journey to move on,” Levesque said.

If a person comes more than once, a staff member will talk to them about what their needs are. If it’s help finding a job, “we’ll say let’s work on a resume, here’s a computer, let’s try looking for a job,” he said. If it is drug abuse problems, they will provide information on addiction support groups in the area and help a person get set up.

Helping a person reach their full potential, through education and maintaining a stable living situation, is key, he said.

“We think this is a way to live out our Catholic faith. We want to give people this opportunity to live out their faith. If they volunteer we think we’ll be able to offer better services,” Levesque said. “We want to build a community in Little Rock between housed and unhoused people.”

Sister Elizabeth will visit Little Rock Feb. 14-21, meeting with area churches to share information about volunteer opportunities with Depaul USA. To learn more or to request her to speak at a parish, call (478) 954-8096.