Founders Of Ozanam Family Shelter

The ceremony was simple but heartfelt last Saturday afternoon (Sept. 26) as the founders of the Ozanam Family Shelter were honored for their work.

Father Phil Kreilein, pastor at Resurrection Parish in Evansville, opened the ceremony with a prayer, asking God to bless the homeless, and “keep them from physical and emotional harm, fill their hearts with hope for the future and for today,” and to comfort them as they “walk their difficult paths.”

The homeless shelter, which was founded in the early 1990s by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, was named after Blessed Frederic Ozanam, the founder of the society. Today the Evansville shelter provides emergency temporary shelter for single women, single mothers, single fathers, two-parent families and married couples with no children, all who find themselves in homeless situations.

Timothy Weir, the co-chair of the Commission on Homelessness in Evansville, said that since moving to Evansville in 2011 he has found a “generous, welcoming, helpful community.” The Ozanam Family Shelter gives the homeless “a way up, a way out, and a way forward.” He noted that 400 to 600 people remain homeless in the city.

Those honored during the ceremony included Deacon Robert Hayden and his wife, Lucille, Benedictine Joanna Trainer, Scott Harris, Greg Schmitz, Ed Bassemeier, Joan Ritter,  Steve Barber,  Mary Lou Jerger and Ray Niemeier.

Also remembered were the late Malcolm Glaser, Jack Gossens and George Orth.