Friendship House Women's Transitional Housing:

Stage One: Jane Ashford and Patterson Houses
Stage Two: Mark Palmer House

Each month St. Paul's Church contributes $500 to the support of Palmer House, a home for homeless women in Wilmington owned and operated by Friendship House.

History

In 1999, Friendship House purchased two adjacent properties located at 1004 and 1006 N. Lincoln Street. These houses were named for Reverend Mark Palmer, who had died the previous January. Mark was the associate pastor at St. Paul's for many years and a great friend to all at Friendship House.

The houses are divided into two apartments each, for a total of 4 apartments. It was decided that they would become the second stage of the year-long transitional housing program so that women could graduate from communal living in Stage One into their own living space in a one-bedroom apartment at Stage Two. Since that time, 45 women (and 23 children) have lived at Palmer House. All of them have graduated into independent housing except 3 women.

Highlights

In 2006, Palmer House was home to 10 women and 6 children. Currently, 4 women and 4 children are residents. Almost all of the women moving into Palmer House tell us that this is their first experience of living on their own. They have always lived in someone else's space-with parents, boyfriends, etc. They are thrilled to be moving into their own apartment.

Each resident of Palmer House is required to be employed; she may also be attending vocational training. She pays a program fee of $200/month. She saves 25 of her net income. She purchases her own food, cleaning supplies, and paper products. She meets weekly with housing staff and is required to pass a weekly house inspection performed by the Housing Manager.

Residents are able to remain at Palmer House for 6 to 9 months. One apartment is currently "home" to three generations: Mother, daughter, and grandson. The mother moved into our program last March. By June, she had learned that her teen age daughter, who resided in Baltimore, was expecting a child. She asked if she could bring her daughter into our program to care for her during and after the pregnancy. Staff agreed and the young lady joined her mother in late July. The grandson was bom prematurely in August-his due date was November 7; he weighed 1 Ib 12 oz. at birth. He is now over 8 pounds and lives with his mother and grandmother at Palmer House. His mother attends school and is making good grades.

We are convinced that little Robert would not be thriving and his mother would not be doing so well in school had we not moved them into our program. His grandmother would have felt compelled to leave our program to care for them, which would have meant that she would have returned to an unhealthy living situation. What a blessing it is to have a safe, clean apartment to offer this remarkable family.