St. Anne's serving up new solutions
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By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN
Standard-Examiner staff
New director dealing with change of focus in Utah
OGDEN -- People who hop off a freight andneed a place to spend the night can still do so at St. Anne's Center, but they shouldn't be surprised if thereception is a bit more bureaucratic than it used to be.
If they want to hang around for a few days, they have to follow more rules, tolerate procedures that are more strict and face a frostier welcome.
That's intentional, said Jennifer Canter, the executive director of the center since September.
Canter is the third director in as many years at St. Anne's -- the fourth if you count ReAnne Hart, the interim director for most of last year who is still on staff as a case manager.
Canter, a member of the West Haven City Council, took over at St. Anne's, which is still trying to recover from the confusion and discord inevitable from so many changes in leadership.
In addition to bureaucratic discord, she's dealing with a massive change in the way homeless people are helped in Utah. Adoption by Utah of a 10-year plan to do away with homelessness means the end of the traditional "flophouse" format of shelter.
A third problem, she said, is convincing the Weber County community that helping a guy who gets off a train is, really, a very tiny part of what St. Anne's does.
People who have in the past said they want to move St. Anne's outside of Ogden because they believe it attracts transients to the center of town need to know how many people who live in Ogden would be hurt, she said.
Most of the nearly 180 people who eat lunch daily at St. Anne's are not homeless, or even transient.
"Two-thirds of them are in this area," the working poor, she said, with jobs and homes.
"And it's not that they are taking advantage of us for free lunch -- a lot of these people don't make enough to afford lunch."
But a big part of her job so far has just been getting the place organized.
"I don't want it to sound like I came in and was the saint that saved it," she said.
"Certainly I was not, but when I did start, because of my background -- I came from a manufacturing environment -- there are policies and procedures, everything is clear and everyone understands their job. There was none of that here."
Canter worked for Iomega in Roy for 18 years. What she found at St. Anne's, she said, was a hodgepodge of practices and a lot of confusion, and it grated against her sense of organization.
"There was no clearly defined way that volunteers could come in and help. As a result, volunteers were having a very unsatisfactory feeling when they left," she said.
"Some were getting turned away, and the building was in total disarray. There was no organization."
That confusion hurt a lot of things, not the least of which was donations.
Many donors cut back, fearful they were pouring money into a sinking ship. Canter spends a lot of time every day convincing donors that things have changed, she is running a different place, and money will be handled well.
Olive Garden, for example, was going to quit giving food to the center. The company had had bad experiences with deliveries and was unsure its food was going to be used well.
"I talked to the guy and told him what we are doing," she said, describing staff changes and new volunteer procedures, "and he called back an hour later and said, 'We would love to continue to be your partner.' "
The second change she is working through is the way people who stay at the shelter are treated.
"The way I describe it is, years ago at shelters, everybody was welcome and anything goes, because we don't want to discriminate against anyone for any reason," Canter said.
"And when you're dealing with this population, that philosophy is not successful."
Now, she said, "everyone is welcome," but it stops there.
"We are a 90-day emergency shelter instead of just an overnight warm bed."
That means anyone who comes for emergency help has to do more than just spend the night. More than 40 people currently staying at the shelter are there on 90-day commitments, she said, working with caseworkers, working at jobs, working to find a place to live on their own.
"Nowadays, the way shelters are run, everybody is still welcome, but not everything goes, and that is the key, because when you're dealing with 80-plus individuals who come from a homeless environment, that's part of why they're here -- they had trouble with a rule, some bad choice has gotten them here."
When that transient gets off a train, he can still stay the night, "but that is changing in April. If somebody comes to our door and says, 'I need a bed,' we'll bring them upstairs and give them a bed, but the next morning, they have to meet with a counselor, and they are told they can sign up for a two-week trial period," Canter said.
"During that two weeks, they get to decide whether they will stay and we will help them, or whether they want to move on."
And if the transient stays a night, skips the next morning and comes back in a week?
"If they don't want our help and are not willing to help themselves, we can't do a thing for them."
There are exceptions, of course, Canter said. On very cold nights, the shelter takes anyone, even the drunks. Nobody wants people freezing to death.
"And if it's a woman with children, of course, we will always take them in."
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Glad to hear that St. Anne's will be back on her feet and running as it should be. Too bad the Standard isn't... It is a shame you can only read part of the paper on-line for free. Other newspapers across the country you can read at no cost on-line. At least one thing in Ogden is going the right way. Thanks St. Anne's!