Newspaper Page Text
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Thursday, October 19, 2000
News
The Southern Cross, Page 3
“The Third Wave”: Mercy Housing SouthEast’s plans for
revitalizing a hospital, a school and an historic neighborhood
4 ^Toften think that
Xwhat we are
talking about here
is ‘the third
wave’,” said
Sister Betty
Walsh, RSM, dis
cussing the soon-
to-come metamor
phosis of Cuyler-
Rita H. Brownsville
DeLorme Neighborhood’s
old Charity
Hospital and the circa-1929 Florance
Street School Building. “People
know about the need for food and for
education, but what they tend to
overlook is the need for decent,
affordable housing.” This need is one
both Robin Haddock, in charge of
developing the project, and Sister
Betty, liaison with Saint
Joseph/Candler Hospital, have con
sidered for some time. Now, after
struggling through masses of paper
work and assorted other obstacles,
they can finally see results. The
award of over $6 million dollars of
federal low income housing tax cred
its to Mercy Community Housing
Georgia last month has put its rede
velopment project, Heritage Place
Apartments, “over the top” and on its
way to opening in 2002.
Mercy Housing SouthEast’s vision
for the Cuyler-Brownsville neighbor
hood and the two structures, now mere
shells, reflects the organization’s core
values: the belief that every person has
the right to decent, safe housing in a
nurturing environment; that no one
should pay an excessive proportion of
income for housing; that all residents
and staff contribute to modeling co
responsibility and building healthy
communities. With the support of the
Saint Joseph’s-Candler Health
Systems, future residents of the 88
units being built for low-income fami
lies and individuals will move toward
a way of life involving proper health
care and facilities and awareness of
the means of obtaining such care.
Sister Betty Walsh and Robin Haddock
Benefits such as on-site health screen
ings, transportation to doctor appoint
ments and clinics and full-time case
management and primary care medical
services will be available through
Saint Joseph/Candler.
Charity Hospital, located at 644
West 36th Street, was from its begin
ning a facility with goals parallel to
the ones Mercy Housing SouthEast
espouses today. Established in 1893
by Dr. Alice Woodby McKane and
her husband, Dr. Cornelius McKane,
as the McKane Hospital for Women
and Children and Training School for
Nurses, it was totally administered
and staffed by African Americans.
Here, a nursing school became the
first of its kind in Georgia. Here, too,
the McKanes’ hospital became the
only one in which Georgia’s black
physicians could practice.
In 1903, the hospital’s name was
changed to “Charity Hospital”, and
in 1931, the original, outmoded
building was replaced by a new
structure. The “new” building was
the result of a uniquely blended
fundraising effort backed by both the
African-American and white commu
nities of Savannah. Rabbi George
Solomon of the Mickve Israel
Synagogue agreed to direct the proj
ect and managed to obtain aid from
the Julius Rosenwald Fund of
Chicago. With help from Sam G.
Adler, Rabbi Solomon obtained
$50,000 in support from the
Rosenwald Fund “for the building of
a modem hospital for negroes, pro
vided the people of Savannah would
give an equal amount.” Rabbi
Solomon next contacted Mrs. Sarah
Mills Hodge of Savannah and New
York and she, too, aided in the effort,
pledging fifty cents for every dollar
raised by the community. The people
of Savannah did their part. In fact,
their contributions exceeded the
$50,000 they had been mandated to
raise by the Rosenwald Fund.
Charity Hospital moved into its
modem, new building and remained
there until its long tradition of serv
ice expired with its closing in 1964.
The building took on life briefly
again, functioning as a private nurs
ing home from 1967 until 1976.
Nearby, the Florance Street School
was built in 1929 at 1811 Florance
Street and remained in operation as
an elementary school for African
American children until the mid-
1980s. Early this year, the National
Park Service designated it a “certi
fied historic structure for the purpos
es of rehabilitation”. The remodeled
building, which will contain twenty-
seven apartments, will be named in
honor of Emma Quinney, principal of
Florance Street School until the late
1940s. The former cafeteria building
behind the school will be tom down
to make way for thirty-six more
apartments. Enhancing the develop
ment of both Florance Street School
and Charity Hospital will be another
facility, a 1500-square-foot building
designed to provide a place for com
munity events and resident programs.
This community center is to be con
structed on a vacant lot to the west of
the Charity Hospital site.
Heritage Place is being developed
jointly by MHSE and the Norsouth
Corporation, a local development
and constmction company fully
experienced in working with tax-
credited projects such as the one
involving Charity Hospital and
Florance Street School. The new
apartment complex will breathe hope
into the lives of people for whom the
choice of food on the table or living
in good housing is a toss-up. There
will be the option of one-, two- or
three-bedroom apartments, says proj
ect developer Robin Haddock, with a
three-bedroom apartment in the new
complex falling into a rent category
of $380-$455 per month.
Providing such options for those
who have limited incomes—such as
meager social security benefits or
minimum wage pay—reaffirms the
goals stated in its Mission by Mercy
Housing: “To create and strengthen
healthy communities through the pro
vision of quality, affordable, service-
enriched housing for individuals and
families who are economically poor.”
Since its founding by the Sisters of
Mercy of Baltimore, Maryland and
the Sisters of Mercy of Belmont,
North Carolina, Mercy Housing
SouthEast has done just that.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer
in the Diocesan Archives.
Family Life Office back in action in the diocese
Office of Family Life
Services
Natural Family Planning
There are two upcoming Creighton Model NFP
Introductory Sessions planned for the near
future:
(1) October 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Saint Frances Cabrini Church
Savannah
(2) October 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Victory Chapel
Fort Stewart
Kate Payne at the NFP Office is the point of
contact for both meetings. She can be reached
at 912-238-2320.
Savannah
n expanded Family Life Office is open at the
Catholic Pastoral Center in Savannah after a
10-year absence. The diocesan office has a staff of
three to help parishes in their outreach to families.
Sister Patricia Brown, SSMN, has returned to the
Diocese of Savannah as director of the Family Life
Services. Sister Pat brings a wealth of experience to
the Family Life Office. She ministered in the
Savannah Office of Social Ministry and Migrant
Ministry from 1982 to 1990. After obtaining a
Masters of Social Work from The Catholic Univer
sity of America in Washington, D.C. in 1991, Sister
Pat worked at a refugee shelter and provided coun
seling to families through Catholic Charities in
Buffalo, New York.
The past six years she has been the director of
Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Jackson and
part-time counselor for Catholic Charities Family
Life office in Mississippi. One of the more reward
ing projects in Jackson was the development of a
Hispanic parenting education project, the only one
of its kind in the state.
Kate Payne has recently been hired as her part-
time assistant and Coordinator of Natural Family
Planning (NFP) for the diocese. Mrs. Payne’s pri
mary experience has been teaching high school
religion classes in Missouri and Virginia since
completing her Master’s Degree in Theological
(Continued on page 6)