St. Francis House pauses daily meal services, affirms commitment to shelter services
Press release from St. Francis House
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – St. Francis House, a longstanding pillar of support for individuals and families with children experiencing homelessness, announces a temporary pause in its daily meal services beginning April 15, 2024, while reaffirming its commitment to providing shelter and support to vulnerable women and families with children.
Since its inception in 1981, St. Francis House has remained steadfast in its commitment to adapting and evolving its services to meet the ever-changing needs of the community. Amidst the challenges of the past years, the organization has remained a beacon of hope, providing essential services and safe, secure shelter to those in need. In response to escalating operational costs, including a significant 30% increase in daily operational expenses, and the need to carefully allocate resources, St. Francis House has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend its daily services for the hungry and homeless in the community. This decision comes after thorough consideration and a recognition of the availability of similar services provided by other organizations within the community.
“While our commitment to serving those in need remains unwavering, we must make difficult decisions to ensure the sustainability of our core programs,” said Lauri Schiffbauer, Executive Director of St. Francis House. “Given the availability of alternative resources for day and meal services, we have made the careful decision to prioritize our shelter and support services for women and families with children experiencing homelessness, a population facing unique challenges and limited resources within our community.”
St. Francis House will continue to provide shelter, resources, and encouragement to vulnerable women and families with children through its Emergency Shelter, offering essential support services including three daily meals, case management, housing location assistance, and referrals to additional support resources. Since January 2020 alone, St. Francis House has assisted over 600 adults and children in families, offering guidance and support to those facing homelessness. Through individualized case plans and dedicated assistance, the organization has empowered its guests, with 97% of former shelter families successfully transitioning into permanent, affordable housing upon program completion.
“Our success is measured not only by the number of people and children we serve but by the lasting impact we have on their lives,” Schiffbauer added. “By providing a safe haven and the necessary resources, we are empowering individuals and families to create brighter futures for themselves.”
As St. Francis House faces the challenges of rising operational costs, the organization remains resolute in its mission to serve the most vulnerable members of the community, women and families with children experiencing homelessness. St. Francis House extends its gratitude to donors, volunteers, and community partners for their continued support and pledges to navigate these challenges with resilience and compassion.
“While we recognize the impact of this temporary pause on our daily community meal services, our priority remains the well-being and stability of those we provide safe shelter to,” Robert Atwood, President of the Board of Directors of St. Francis House, stated. “Since our beginning, St. Francis House has remained dedicated to serving those in need with compassion and dignity. In these challenging times, our commitment to our community has never changed, and we are proud to continue our legacy of service. We are deeply grateful for the ongoing support of our community, which enables us to continue our mission of creating new futures for women and families with children experiencing homelessness.”
To donate or learn more about supporting St. Francis House, visit https://stfrancishousegnv.com/donate or send a check/money order to PO Box 12491, Gainesville, FL 32604.
All contributions are fully tax-deductible as St. Francis House is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
I don’t remember any of these good community organizations having these issues when Trump was President. It is really ironic that once the woke, liberals are in charge this is some of the results we see.
That’s straight B.S. and you know it. Get a grip.
Now, now, nobody wants to get a grip on your Belly Roll.
BIDENOMICS.Remember that in November.
“On seven key metrics, Biden has a 4-3 edge. Biden bests Trump on overall job growth, manufacturing jobs, GDP growth, and exports. Trump wins on stock market performance, real-income growth, and low inflation.
If the economy holds up during the rest of 2024, as most economists expect, Biden will sustain that 4-3 advantage in our tracking. We measure the current president’s economy against prior presidents at the same point in their term. The COVID pandemic dominated Trump’s fourth year in office, wrecking Trump’s stats on employment and GPD growth. So a head-to-head comparison favors Biden for the next 10 months and if stocks do well he could beat Trump there also, for a 5-2 edge in our seven metrics…”
Keep in mind, that like Covid, inflation is a worldwide issue on which the US is doing much better than most of the developed world.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-vs-trump-on-the-economy-and-the-winner-is-164241570.html
“US recession calls are still on the table, but the economy is still outpacing other rich nations.
US GDP grew at a surprise 3.3% rate in the fourth quarter, beating estimates for 2.0%.
Outlooks for G7 nations show slower growth and higher inflation compared to the US.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/economy-us-gdp-inflation-federal-reserve-economic-growth-canada-germany-2024-1
PS The fear of recession mentioned in the article is old news as all major economists, including the Feds, say it won’t happen.
Hey Jizz Guzzler, I think you have something stuck in your throat, because we are talking about the Saint Francis house which is great help to women and families in need and your rambling on talking points about Biden. That is the problem with libtards. As soon as they know they can’t defend their position. They just start puking up. Same old talking points.
Mayor back-Ward, I’m a conservative who disagrees with nearly everything Jazzman says but you speak like an ignorant child. Grow up and figure out how to properly convey your message.
Jazzman,
Somebody needs to tell the information you supplied to the Director of the St. Francis House, because they are running around telling people they are in trouble because they are experiencing 30% high cost (AKA INFLATION). Geez, I didn’t realize they were such liars at the St. Fracis House.
Liar Liar I certainly hope that you do not believe that Saint Francis is lying, I have documets that will prove that the city funds Grace Marketplace and does’t provide even a quarter of the funding to Saint Francis House as they do to Grace Market. Lets take a period from 12/1/2023 thru 2/12/2024, that would be over $400,000 to Grace Marketplace and $0 to Saint Francis House. Now think about this when 85% of the Funding Saint Francis receives comes from community and Businesses and the inflation that has hurt many American’s has sent them from above poverty level to below poverty level, how can they then continue to donate? This is a BIG, BIG PROBLEM. I say the CITY and the COUNTY need to MATCH DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR WHAT THEY HAVE DONATED TO GRACE MARKETPLACE FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS.
Now you ask how I know this information…. Public records requests do wonders. Why would the city and county not fund a place that helps those that are willing to do the work to help themselves all they need is the help to help themselves and their family.
Four years ago my family was there, We are a success story and I can tell you 3 out of four of the families for sure that was there when we were have been successful as well. It is time for former clients of Saint Francis come together and do something maybe fund raisers or events seeking donations. I don’t know how we can do this legally so I will be seeking a meeting to get information on what we can and cannot do.
Keep drinking that kool aid
The St. Francis house has a record of success in helping their clients return back into independent living in a safe environment.
And the good news is they are looking to re-locate their facility AWAY for the Downtown BAR District.
Unfortunately, the City and the County chose to dump millions of dollars over the years into Grace Marketplace – which as predicted – given their lack of appropriate rules, regulations and requirements – turned into a Costly and Dangerous Homeless ENABLING Center – a MAGNET for people to come from all over the State and Country to receive FREE services on the backs of GRU customers and taxpayers – and engage in Aggressive Panhandling DOWNTOWN.
But I thought inflation was only 3% according to Bidenomics and getting better. It is more like 30% or more. And not getting better since he keeps printing more money.
Biden is the worst president of my lifetime but shutting down an economy for a virus ( or any reason) which prior administration did and also running money printers 24/7 at the same time this was going to be the result regardless who’s in white house. And yes, the inflation numbers are fake, they started fudging with the inflation numbers 50 years ago, the current administration has just dialed it up to circus levels.
Yes, the partisans refuse to acknowledge this. Both presidents, both parties are equally to blame for inflation and Covid shenanigans. Republicans conveniently forget 2020 and Dems can’t see the current reality. Trump and Biden are both puppets and so are their unwavering supporters. It’s a circus
Immediately transfer ALL disGRACE funding to SFH now! Then tax the hell out of lawyers and bail bondsmen, to re-fund disGRACE for one more year, max. Then shut down disGRACE.
Problem solved.
YES!!!!! I agree all funding should go to SFH!
The bums should just all go to Grace Mkt because it was supposed to end homelessness in 10 years. How’d that work out? It made things worse‼️
Let the churches help their fellow man and enforce no squatting, & no panhandling! Send the vagrants back to where they came from and stop catering to them!
Churches still do provide a lot of food and other basic living supplies for the homeless…it just isn’t reported on and the churches do not boast about it publicly (you’ll hear it mentioned if you attend a service). Churches cannot house homeless in tents anymore due to the rampant drug use and lack of assistance from law enforcement, when needed. It became a safety issue. I’m positive most churches would gladly step right back up if they had proper law enforcement backup when needed to weed out the crazies and users
🎯
Hang on a Minute this is about Saint Francis House! You are calling the clients at the shelter bums?! If that is the case you need to educate yourself about the difference between these two places. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME! You should go through the program sometime. I mean, this place recieves donations and Churches come in the evening to feed the sheltered guests. These people if caught panhandling will receive a warning because as a client you have a case manager and you have a plan to get housed. if you have no job you must be searching or going back to school, You must have a plan. Secondly the success rate for those that were clients is pretty high I know it is at least 70-75 percent that remain housed and successful. Lastly lets talk about how families are not allowed at Grace because of the dangers to the kids. So now tell me where they should go?!
There is a piece on WCJB with some interesting perspective from SFH:
https://www.wcjb.com/2024/04/02/st-francis-house-frustrated-with-level-help-gainesville-city-county/
“The executive director of St. Francis wrote in an email to Gainesville city commissioners that Grace Marketplace receives non-grant funds from the city and county but they do not.
“85% of our entire funding is just from the community and from businesses,” shared Drummet. “We get a very little amount from the city and from the county.”
The email claims “Grace doesn’t report it’s true numbers to anyone. You have no idea how many of their clients we have housed and they claim credit for housing them.””
Isn’t it *strange*, isn’t it *odd*, that Gainesville City Commissioners choose to give the lion’s share of aid to a completely non-transparent program like Grace Marketplace even though it has been proven to be an absolute failure? Instead of to a program like SFH that has a moderate record of success and who prioritizes women and children (instead of male drug addicts)?
You’d think SFH would be better for their image, but it’s almost like they personally benefit from taxpayer money going into the untraceable black hole of Grace Marketplace…