Kensington: Franciscan Outreach Mission Gives Homeless More Than Food

https://vimeo.com/20290741]

Thomas McNamara has perfected the art of deadpanning. Catching his acquaintances off guard with each zing, he speaks in short spurts, with a cadence that almost reminds you of Bob Hope. A smile and chuckle greet you at each end of each of his sentences.

In short, he’s anything but dull.

His conversations are peppered with references ranging from President John F. Kennedy to Charles Dickens. He’s a linguist with the ability to list etymologies of all kinds of words. His general ease makes it apparent that he’s lived many years. With his stark white hair, wire glasses and lime green polo, you could easily run into him in a golf clubhouse.

But he’s not at the golf course. He’s a guest at St. Francis Inn Ministries, a place he says he’s frequented for nearly 20 years for nourishment of his body, mind and soul.

“This used to be a bar by the way, ironically enough,” says McNamara, who is a recovering alcoholic, “I never drank here in particular, always further down”

While sober now, “the sauce,” as McNamara calls it, has presented a challenge for him most of his adult life.

“They say alcoholics die young, they just don’t get buried until later.” Then he mentions his wife, “I could be divorced in absentia. I don’t know. My wife loved me enough to tell me to leave and I loved her enough to stay away.”

A regular at St. Francis, McNamara’s been around since the beginning when the inn was established in the 1970s just beside the El on Kensington Avenue. Fast forward to a recent Tuesday evening, McNamara was one of 363 people served during a marathon dinner session.

Another one of the 363 served that evening and a fellow St. Francis regular, is Isaac Mejias. The Puerto Rican native has been in Philadelphia for roughly 15 years. He’s a force at serving time, socializing with other guests and on first-name basis with staff.

“I come here for socks, underwear, a good meal to eat, sometimes for breakfast, more at night.”

What draws him back, he says, is the uniqueness of the inn.

“I like the atmosphere, I like helping and they give me the opportunity to do that. Those other places where they serve you and you don’t serve them, I’m not taught how to help. I like to be served, but I like to serve too.”

Mejias claims St. Francis works so well in Kensington due to the people that can be found in the area.

“It’s on the worst side of town. Spiritual wise, the worst people, lack of spirituality, lack of experienced men who can teach other men how to succeed in our society.”

He has no qualms speaking about the challenges he’s faced in his life with a smile upon his face. He claims to be 51 but looks much younger, something he attributes to his time spent in prison.

“I was a heroin dealer and a methadone user. Methadone using was the last of my habit. My family were drug dealers. Growing up it was always taught what was expected, to be a man, in Spanish we call this ‘machismo’. Men don’t cry, men don’t do this, men don’t that. It’s what was expected,” explains Mejias. “I had a lot of anger. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have spoken to anyone, because of my record.”

Things since then, have changed for Mejias. He has been clean for three years.

“Today everything is positive for me. I live a day at a time, I don’t take it no further. My life is really good today. Through my mistakes I’ve learned that what I was taught and what is right, we two different things.”

The city of Philadelphia is recognized as something of a leader in homeless policy and programs. Even with that distinction, the city continues to have a steady stream of homeless individuals it copes with. Miraculously, St. Francis Inn Ministries is funded entirely by individual donations, receiving no federal, state or local funding.

Statistics on the homeless population in Philadelphia puts their numbers at roughly around 4,000. There has been some recent evidence that this number has decreased. However, with no real solutions to underlying factors and causes of homelessness, it remains a stubborn figure to decrease significantly. Nearly two-thirds of Philadelphia homeless are said to be suffering from mental illness or addiction. Yet city supportive housing falls woefully short of its ability to accommodate them.

It’s a situation St. Francis Inn staff and volunteers know all to well, as they see many of the same faces funnel in and out of there doors each day, some now for decades. St. Francis Inn Ministries does what they can to add a level of dignity to their outreach programs. They hold a firm belief that everyone involved in the mission are “brothers” and “sisters” whether ordained or otherwise.

“What I’ve learned here, is the more I give the more I receive. When I see all the people I know here, coming here, they seem to have that glow. We all come here all to get fed, physically, but this is the place spirituality is taught too,” says Mejias. “It makes me feel good. It makes me feel at ease.”

“I say, God helps those who help themselves by helping others. Maybe some of us will help ourselves by coming here for the right reasons,” says McNamara, adding, “You never stand so tall as when you stoop to help someone else.”