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fortunate in our community.
Day Center
Open Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 2 pm, guests can get showers,
sandwiches, coffee, and other snacks. We see an average of 45 persons in
our Day Center each day. Guests can also have their laundry done Tuesday
through Thursday. We provide a newspaper and videos for educational and
informative purposes. Our Clothing Closet consists of donated clothing and
linens and is open by a volunteer Mondays from 9 am to noon. We allow
guests to use our phones and mailing address for the purpose of seeking
employment and establishing services with other agencies. Our Homeless
Assistant works with guests to help them connect with resources, such as bus
passes to get to work and appointments, guidance obtaining ID cards and
birth certificates, work boots and food.
Next Step Transitional Housing
A 2-year transitional housing program for single, homeless, adult males and
females provides residents with the opportunity to get back on their feet. We
have 4 fully furnished houses located in Norfolk that house 4 persons each
while they transition from homelessness to independent living. Residents
coming into the program are started off with food, a 30-day bus pass, linens,
and toiletries. Two case managers oversee the houses and work with
residents on goals relating to employment, education, substance abuse,
mental illness, life skills, budgeting, house keeping, physical health, and
community involvement. Finally, residents are guided as they seek and
establish their own apartments.
Interested individuals must meet with the case managers for a presession and
interview prior to acceptance into the program. The acceptance process can
take up to two weeks, and sometimes longer due to the length of our waiting
list. During this time, case managers will share the program structure,
expectations of residents and roles of case managers in helping individuals
overcome homelessness. To schedule an interview, interested applicants or
their case managers can call (757) 627-0312 to speak with one of the case
managers.
Open Monday through Thursday 9 am to 2 pm, referred families and
individuals are provided with enough food for three days. When providing
food, we take into consideration restrictions clients may have on what they
can eat or prepare, including health conditions, access to cooking facilities
and special foods for children. All clients receiving food must have a
written referral from their case manager or social services in order to
receive food. Our food pantry is stocked through donations and special
purchases when we have specific needs. We are supported by numerous
churches that make financial and in-kind donations. We work closely with
the Foodbank to eliminate hunger. We serve approximately 125 families
and individuals each month.
Financial Assistance
St. Columba has financial assistance to help prevent homelessness is our
community. Sometimes families and individuals have encountered a
hardship (illness, loss of work, accident) that has caused their normally tight
budget to be stretched beyond its means. Many people are living from
paycheck to paycheck.
Rental Assistance
St. Columba Ecumenical Ministries, Inc. applies for funding from grants
each year to provide rental assistance to families and individuals in Norfolk
and Virginia Beach. There are times throughout the year when funding is
not available because we are between grants. All clients must call to see if
we have funding, then do a phone interview prior to scheduling a time to
come to the office. Interested individuals can call (757) 627-6748 Monday
through Thursday for more information.
Utility Assistance
We receive financial assistance from churches in Norfolk and Virginia
Beach to provide partial utility assistance to residents in those cities. We
are only able to help when we have funds available, and assistance is based
on information gathered through a phone application. No applications are
taken in person, in fact, applicants are not required to come to our office
at all. We do require, however, that the utility be in immediate threat of
disconnection and the account holder contact us. We only consider
assistance with water and electric bills (phone, cable, car payments, etc. are
not considered). Applications are taken by phone at (757) 627-6748
Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm when funds are available.
Homeless Management Information System
We collect personal information directly from you for the reasons that are
discussed in our Privacy Notice. We may be required to collect some
personal information by law or by organizations that give us money to
operate this program. Other personal information that we collect is
important to run our programs, to improve services for homeless persons,
and to better understand the needs of homeless persons. We only collect
information that we consider to be appropriate.
The collection and use of all personal information is guided by strict
standards of confidentiality. A copy of our Privacy Notice is available to all
clients upon request.