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St. Margaret's Shelter
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St. Margaret's Shelter originally opened in 1961 for homeless and destitute women. Today, St. Margaret's is an emergency and transitional shelter for homeless women and their children. It provides housing, case management, parenting classes, and life skills training to homeless women. St. Margaret's also provides emergency shelter to mothers with high-risk newborns. The 20,000-square-foot building was dedicated May 30, 2000, and has provided shelter to over 1,000 women and children.
 Adopt-A-Family Christmas
Christmas at St. Margaret¹s was an amazing experience! The people of Spokane are so generous. We were able to provide gifts for all of the families at St. Margaret¹s as well as all of our families in aftercare and families in our community that were in need. Altogether we provided gifts 65 families, or 207 people. Each person received at least 3 gifts each. The residents at St. Margaret¹s were heard saying this was one of the nicest Christmases they have ever experienced. Thank you to each and everyone of you who helped make this Christmas very special.
  
St. Margaret's Shelter received the Families Count Family Strengthening Award!
 Please click on the link below to read more about this Catholic Charities USA national award and St. Margaret's Shelter.
“We’re happy today,” says Danielle with relief, referring to how much things have changed for her and her infant daughter in After treatment Danielle knew her risk for relapse was still high, so she got herself into St. Margaret’s Shelter. She had heard about the shelter and knew it would be a safe place with just the right amount of structure. She’s learning about budgeting, parenting, nutrition, and generally taking care of herself. That makes her better able to care for Hailey, who is clearly attached to her mother. “I love it here,” Danielle says. “I’m very blessed to be here, to have my own room and bathroom and have my child here.” Danielle also expresses appreciation for the staff. “They’re willing to sit down and talk things through,” she explains. “They offer motivation. They say, ‘You’re better than that! You can do it!’” Furthermore, Danielle says, staff members offer tools to help the residents cope with normal life. Danielle hopes that in the not-too-distant future, once she’s got things squared away, she can go to school to become a cosmetologist. Meanwhile, she says, “It’s pretty great being a mom!” St. Margaret's Shelter has organized an eight week Wellness Program for the women and children that will culminate with the Bloomsday 12km walk in Spokane in May. Each week the families participate in classes on various aspects of wellness, from healthy eating and exercise to self-defense and quitting smoking. St. Margaret's provides healthy cooking instruction once a week, arranges for daily group exercise activities, and offers weekly blood pressure and weight screenings. The facility has also provided a corporate membership to the YMCA for the families to use. Families receive points toward prizes for the healthy choices they make, including individually initiated exercise, preventative health screenings, healthy meals and participation in organized events.
The following community partners have come in to teach the weekly Wellness classes:
We know that people make a difference in our programs.
Here are some current volunteer opportunities at St. Margaret's:
St. Margaret's Shelter |
the last few months. Hailey was born with traces of drugs in her system and was immediately taken from her mother. At that moment, Danielle says, “I said to myself, ‘It’s time to change gears and grow up. It’s time to be a mom.'” She checked into a treatment center right away.
